Call Your Elected Officials Today!
In the past month, three people were killed along Cobbs Creek Parkway including two teenagers and a young mother, Avante Reynolds. These tragic deaths were the result of traffic crashes and could have been prevented through investments in better road design.
Seven city and state elected officials are responsible for ensuring the health and safety of residents in their districts. The time has come to remind these officials that safety, not speed, is a priority for residents! Urge them to act now to help make the changes needed to ensure there are no more deaths on Cobbs Creek Parkway.
▪ State Senator Anthony H. Williams (215) 492-2980
▪ City Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson (215) 686-3412 or(215) 686-3413
▪ City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier (215) 686-0459 or 215-686-0460
▪ City Councilmember David Oh (215) 686-3452, (215) 686-3453
▪ PA House Representative Maria Donatucci (215) 468-1515 or RepDonatucci@pahouse.net
▪ PA House Representative Joanna McClinton (215) 748-6712
▪ PA Congressional Representative Dwight Evans (215) 276-0340
Traffic crashes along Cobbs Creek Parkway have persisted for years. The north end of the Parkway was designated as part of Philadelphia’s 2017 High Injury Network , the 12% of roads where 50% of the City’s traffic deaths and severe injuries occur.
A 2019 planning study from the Delaware Valley Planning Commission of the southern section of the Parkway identified speeding traffic as residents’ largest concern and offered recommendations on how to create safer access to Cobbs Creek Park. Cobbs Creek, Angora, Kingsessing, and Elmwood Park residents are forced to live with a road design that encourages speeding. There appears to be little interest from government agencies in making the investments necessary to protect the Parkway’s most vulnerable users, pedestrians, and cyclists.
Cobbs Creek Park is a neighborhood resource that includes green space, environmental and recreation centers, and a trail that extends almost five miles from Market St to Woodland Ave. The Park offers opportunities that promote physical activity, and social and mental wellbeing, but as evidenced by these recent tragedies, residents cannot get there safely. Crossing the Parkway to take advantage of community resources should not mean risking life and limb.
Long-time residents of Cobbs Creek and Southwest Philadelphia – including newly elected Register of Wills, Tracey Gordon – have been vocal about the need to address safety concerns along the Parkway for years, but pleas are most often ignored. These are neighborhoods that have suffered from disinvestment and empty promises for decades.
Now is the time for the City of Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to take action in order to protect residents along the Parkway, particularly pedestrians and cyclists. It is both the city’s and state’s responsibility and obligation to ensure Cobbs Creek residents have safe, healthy, and equitable access to Cobbs Creek Park. And it is what residents deserve.
Larissa Mogano – Cobbs Creek Neighbors Association
Will Fraser – Clean Air Council
