The Pope's Visit to Philadelphia - Impact on Traffic

[jeffandnicole]

Screenshot of NJ 511 taken at about 9:10am.  Lots of detours.  I took a glance at some of the NJDOT cameras - lots of barricades in the closure area, but not much traffic at all, for this time of the morning.

Unlikely any interchange would be shut down outside Tpk. 3 and 4 and I-295 at the major routes (30, 38, 70, 73, 168). Locals still have to get around this weekend, and NJDOT is sensitive to that.

Another thought that I didn't bother passing along to my friend:  Do they really think they're going to allow everyone to get on the highway, but not allow them to get off?  Man 295 is going to be congested like hell when they reach Exit 13 (US 322) and it narrows down from 3 lanes to 2 lanes.  And why wouldn't they allow people to exit 295 at, say, NJ 42, which goes AWAY from Philly.

Always Fun On Facebook.

BTW, I'm heading out soon to volunteer in Philly for the Pope's visit.  Looking forward to it!

[1995hoo]

Warn your friend about the GOOD TIMES virus!

[jeffandnicole]

At PATCO's Woodcrest Station now. Plenty of parking spots. Trains were supposed to be express but due to light traffic I overheard they'll stop at every station for now. Plenty of trains...way more than a normal Saturday. Using the middle track...first time I saw that, but I don't take the train much. Just saw a NJ Transit train fly by on the outer track. Heavy security, bag checks, but they had no problem with me bringing my coffee on the train. Headed to Philly!!

[Mr. Matté]

It's not just I-295 either - I-95 from New Jersey all the way into Philadelphia the message is the same.

Just in case the one guy going north on Route 36 from Long Branch heading to Philadelphia didn't get the message, it's posted there too.

[KEVIN_224]

Right about now, are people in the city thinking the following?

Please
Open
Philadelphia's
Expressways!

[vdeane]

Do they really think they're going to allow everyone to get on the highway, but not allow them to get off?

Din't the Thruway do something like that after the Buffalo snow storm apocalypse last year?

[jeffandnicole]

My observations from a day visiting Philly for the Pope.

Roads & Highways were extremely barren of traffic. NJ's I-676 was open with a single lane leading to Exit 5A, not Exit 3 as advertised.  NJDOT trucks were on standby at interchanges along 295 that motorists could reasonably take to get to the Ben Franklin Bridge in case the ramp needed to be closed; that never happened.

Parking lots at PATCO's Woodcrest & Ferry Ave Stations never came close to filling to capacity. Plenty of security, cops from all over NJ (including one from Newark, NJ) & PATCO staff at the train station where I boarded the train.

Trains were supposed to run Express from each individual station direct to Philly; instead trains started running on modified pickups: Ours stopped at Lindenwold & Woodcrest then expressed to Philly. Plenty of room on board.

Both tracks on the Ben Franklin Bridge were open (the north track had been closed for reconstruction). The north (normally Philly bound) 3 traffic lanes were open for pedestrians; the southern (normally Eastbound) lanes were for official/emergency vehicles. Got this shot of the never-used green light on for what would be the left-most lane of a 5 lane configuration going into Philly. The bridge normally maxes out at 4 Philly-bound lanes.



In Philly, normally heavy used roads were nothing more than bike and pedestrian paths...or cattleshute lines leading to metal detectors & magnetometers.







Walking around, cops were plentiful. Many Philly cops, PA State Troopers and even a few NYC antiterrorism cops were on hand. The crowd was in good spirits so they had a pretty easy day.

Looks like someone managed to get a few of what appears to be a children's class project up on the lights in one of the closed-to-traffic area of the parkway:



If your car was parked in a garage in the no-traffic zone, it wasn't moving anytime soon. Every parking garage ramp had these jersey barriers blocking access in and out!





Kudos to Wawa, BTW. They has numerous areas where they were giving away water. Absolutely free. Many people probably thought there was some sort of catch. Nope. Just free for the taking!



All in all, a good day although very boring. Most people had nothing to do except watch the video screens if they were within eyesight; it's amazing how 43 or so of these screens were up, and there's still more places than not where you couldn't see the screen. I was over there to volunteer but there were so many of us, and we were basically just answering basic questions; some we knew the answer to (porta potties? go that way) and many that we didn't (is the Pope coming down this way? Maybe). I left my shift because there wasn't much of a point in sticking around doing what we were doing; I would've rather been doing something a little more involved.

People weren't allowed to return to NJ on PATCO until 530pm, so I continues to wander around. At least it did allow me to see the Pope ride by down the road from me!



Train ride back was uneventful. Saw a good number of people walking the bridge, flew past closed PATCO stations, and overlooked empty parking lots at the open stations which were presumed to be filled with cars.

All-in-all, I had fun. Philly without traffic is definitely a calmer city to walk around in!