In the 1960s, the city of Philadelphia, PA, had gained National recognition for its aggressive downtown planning and urban-renewal programs. A combination of clearing substandard buildings, creating new parcels for development, and providing improved vehicular access had significantly brightened the prospects for its aging central business district (CBD). A critical part of these plans was a major cross-town expressway to be located within the right-of-way of an existing urban arterial, Vine Street. The expressway was designed to link I-96 and the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, on the eastern edge of Philadelphia at the Delaware River, with the Schuykill Expressway 2 miles to the west. The purpose of the new highway was to connect these major existing highways as well as provide enhanced traffic access to downtown Philadelphia. The purposed Vine Street Expressway became the focus of a protracted dispute between communities along its route and proponents of downtown improvement.
The story of the Vine Street Expressway involves several innovative approaches to highway design and community interaction, and is representative of the unique problems that can be encountered in the large, older, urban areas of the Northeast. The planned route of the Vine Street Expressway passed through several older, urban communities and attracted intense opposition from most of them. Among them was Philadelphia's Chinatown, a century-old community of ethnic Chinese already feeling threatened by the many construction projects underway nearby.
The Players
Key Agencies and Groups Involved in the Chinatown Portion of the Vine Street Expressway Project in Phildelphia, PA:
In the 1960s, Chinatown located south of Vine Street and just to the northeast of the Philadelphia CBD, was surrounded on three sides by urban renewal projects. In 1966, the community learned about the proposed Vine Street Expressway, which they felt, if undertaken as planned, would form a fourth and final barrier to the community.
Despite a lack of political power, the Chinatown community entered the fray in March 1966. Upon learning of the Vine Street Expressway plans through the newspapers, the leaders of Chinatown began to organize for the dispute that was to follow. This dispute would extant to 1983, when a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) filed by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and Region 3 of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) contained a compromise plan for the expressway that met most of the needs of Chinatown. The result: a sensitively planned and aesthetically pleasing, below-grade, limited-access highway design that has helped not only to preserve but also to expand this energetic and cohesive community. Moreover, the Vine Street Expressway provides ample vehicular access to a successfully redeveloped downtown PhiladelphiaIntroduction | Previous | Next
