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Karen Heller: Holding pattern, lots of confusion at airport
For the last few years, Philadelphia police and Pennsylvania state troopers have asked motorists waiting on the side of I-95 for arriving air passengers to move along, a method they call "shushing."
The library approach to driver behavior has not worked well, as anyone visiting Philadelphia International Airport knows. With increased security in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, coupled with the ubiquity of cell phones, I-95 near the airport has become an endless tailgate - without the fun.
Everyone agrees it's dangerous. On this matter, if on no other, there is universal accord.
So, no more Mr. Nice Troopers. Yesterday, troopers said they would issue tickets, for between $97 and $147, and PennDot erected 33 "No Stopping or Standing" signs informing motorists to use the "Bartram Ave. Park & Ride lot to wait for arriving flights."
Not one sign tells you how to get there.
In fact, the sign appears after the turnoff. If you can read this, you've gone too far.
Unlike at other airports, area motorists risk punitive tickets without being offered an easily accessible, free place to wait.
The cell-phone lot is one of those classic you-can't-get-there-from-here places. It's a vehicular Brigadoon. A very ugly, underused vehicular Brigadoon.
That's because I-95 is under the Federal Highway Administration and signs must meet its standards, PennDot is a state agency, and the airport is operated by the city, which means you've fallen into a pothole of bureaucratic confusion and doublespeak, and good luck finding that free lot.
"The real issue is that people don't feel comfortable leaving the highway. They feel they might get lost," said PennDot's Jenny Robinson.
Here, she has a point.
The airport put up 128 green directional signs for "Park & Ride," which motorists have no way of knowing is also the free cell-phone lot. Who wants to Park & Ride when picking up passengers? Many signs are situated once motorists enter the motocross snarl of airport property, so ubiquitous as to become useless.
"We've done our best in terms of signage for the roadways," said the airport's Phyllis Vanlstendal. "We cannot install signs on roadways that are not in our purview."
AAA Mid-Atlantic has complained about the situation for five years. "No one is having an intelligent conversation. The problem is, motorists don't know where to go or can't find where to go to safely make cell-phone calls," said spokeswoman Catherine L. Rossi. "Boston, New York, Chicago, BWI airports all have proper signage. We've offered to pay for the signs. What has been done to date is unacceptable."
To which PennDot regional traffic engineer Lou Belmonte answered, "This is a park-and-ride lot. The airport does not have a cell-phone lot. We've granted permission for them to use it." He added, "Frankly, it's up to the airport."
To which the airport's Vanlstendal said, "We don't own the park-and-ride lot."
So now there are 161 signs advising motorists to go to a place, without proper directions - and after they need to make the exit.
To find the lot on Bartram Avenue - a street that is an egregious insult to the noted botanist - you need a printout from the airport Web site. Good luck with the GPS, because the lot has no exact address. The result is driving and reading, which may not be up there with talking while driving, but is close.
From the I-95 South 12B exit sign, you travel 2.3 miles, including a U-turn, which turns out to be perfectly legal. And dangerous. There, finally, is a sign reading - eureka! - "Cell Phone Lot" in chartreuse, navy, and aqua. Seven cars, a limo, and a van were in the 59-space lot yesterday morning, a lot as unused and ignored as spoiled cheese. To get back to the airport - again, no proper signage - a motorist double-backs on Bartram, returns to I-95, and travels three miles and change to the arrival terminals.
Drivers could use short-term parking, $5 for the first hour, but that means altering the nature of human behavior, paying for something they're currently doing free.
Or they could ceaselessly circle the airport, as good a metaphor for the current signage situation as any.
Contact columnist Karen Heller at 215-854-2586 or kheller@phillynews.com.
