Traffic at Ben Franklin approach in Phila. studied

To ease the daily traffic jam at the Philadelphia end of the Ben Franklin Bridge, engineers hope to eventually build a "flyover ramp" to carry cars directly onto the Vine Street Expressway.

That $120 million solution is many years away. In the next few months, though, crews will make modest improvements to traffic signals and lane markings to speed bridge traffic, Delaware River Port Authority officials said.

And they hope to get approval in July for new lanes and ramps in Center City to fix a chronic chokepoint near Broad Street and the Vine expressway.

The changes unveiled this week by the DRPA after a year-long study are designed to ease congestion in the web of lanes, ramps, and streets at the foot of the 84-year-old bridge.

Currently, commuters from New Jersey to Philadelphia come to an abrupt halt at the bottom of the bridge, greeted by a phalanx of traffic lights controlling access to I-95, the Vine expressway, and local streets.

Bad as the jams are, they're expected to get worse. The DRPA study predicts the number of vehicles that go through the intersection will increase from 5,500 an hour during the morning rush to 6,300 in 25 years.

"That may not sound like much, but when it's already saturated and there's no place else to go, it does make a big difference," said traffic engineer Mahmood Shehata.

Average travel time across the bridge would increase from the current five minutes to 15 by 2035, the study projects.

And traveling from the toll plaza in Camden to the Broad Street exit on the Vine expressway would take 19 minutes, instead of the current six.

The immediate planned improvements will be modest: pavement markings to direct motorists on the bridge into the proper lanes, and retimed traffic signals to give morning commuters more time to get through the intersection.

Then, in July, planners hope to get approval from the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission for three short-term fixes:

A second lane on the Broad Street off-ramp from the westbound Vine expressway and a northbound lane there to Callowhill Street between 15th and 16th Streets, to be built in about two years. Estimated cost: $1.1 million in federal funds.

Improved signs above the westbound Ben Franklin Bridge lanes. Permanent and variable messages would be designed to direct motorists to the proper lanes. Estimated cost: $500,000 in federal funds.

Traffic-management signs with real-time information about congestion, accidents, and travel times. Estimated cost: $750,000 in federal funds.

The short-term projects can be done with little involvement by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, said Charles H. Davies, assistant district executive for design for PennDot.

"If it's serving a purpose that is primarily that of the DRPA, they may well own it," Davies said. "We'd have to concur with that at some point . . . but we're not looking to own any more highway."

The most ambitious solution, which would allow I-676 traffic to avoid the intersection and traffic lights, is a ramp that would provide a direct connection from the bridge to the Vine expressway.

That ramp would eliminate 670 vehicle-hours of delay per peak hour daily and would allow 1,200 more vehicles an hour to cross the bridge, according to the study.

It would cut travel time on the bridge about 50 percent.

"It certainly has the most benefits," said Paul Archibald, vice president of McCormick Taylor, the engineering and planning firm that conducted the study for the DRPA.

But it would cost an estimated $120 million and would require the closure of the Fifth Street exit from the bridge.

It would also disrupt the existing street network and create noise and visual impacts for the surrounding residents and businesses.

Such a ramp would involve coordination with the city and PennDot. It might be 20 years or longer before the "flyover" plans become a reality, said John Matheussen, chief executive of the DRPA.

Without it, projections for 2035 show a "failed rate" of traffic movement on the bridge, Matheussen said. That means the peak-hour traffic demand would exceed the capacity of the bridge.

Matheussen said plans for managing traffic on the oldest of the four DRPA bridges also would involve increased ridership on PATCO trains and expansion of PATCO in Philadelphia.

PATCO has proposed extending its rail service along the Delaware River waterfront in Philadelphia north and south of the Ben Franklin Bridge.