The City of Philadelphia is bringing some big improvements to North American Street with the help of a federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant, better known as a TIGER grant.

To get input from residents in neighborhoods along American Street, we’re holding two open houses as a follow up to the two events held in July. We’ll be providing more information about this $15 million project, which targets the two-mile stretch of American Street between Girard Avenue and Indiana Avenue.

The next open house events will be held in mid-November:

Tuesday, November 15:

Front & Palmer
1750 N. Front St., from 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Thursday, November 17:

Pan American Academy Charter School (Cafeteria)

2830 N. American St., from 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Light refreshments will be provided, and we will have team members there who can answer any questions for Spanish speakers.
In addition to Philadelphia Water, the Streets Department and the Commerce Department will be working on proposed improvements that include:

• Removing the unused trolley tracks and installing landscaped green infrastructure that will manage water from storms and protect local waterways

• Additional landscaping and street amenities, such as trash receptacles and lighting

• Wider, accessible sidewalks

• Access to business properties

• Improved traffic flow for all users

• Shorter crossing distances for pedestrians

• New bicycle lanes
Construction on this work is expected to begin in January 2018.

We look forward to seeing you at the upcoming open house events!

Please share this post or the flyer below with your neighbors:

For our final Infrastructure Week post, we are looking at a massive, multi-year project that will help reduce flooding related to heavy rains in several neighborhoods. Like many other cities, Philadelphia is dealing with a sewer system designed for a time when there were far fewer hard surfaces like streets, parking lots and buildings.

Because those surfaces don’t absorb rain, the water becomes stormwater runoff, which can overwhelm sewers, leading to localized flooding and combined sewer overflows. While the City is relying on Green Stormwater Infrastructure investments made through the Green City, Clean Waters program to deal with this challenge, those green tools are more effective when we also improve our traditional sewer system.

A good example of an investment in our existing system that will enhance Green City, Clean Waters projects is the Cohocksink Storm Flood Relief project, also called the Northern Liberties SFR. The project is named after the Cohocksink Creek, which once flowed through Kensington and Northern Liberties and emptied into the Delaware River not far from where SugarHouse Casino stands today.

Like many small streams in Philadelphia, the Cohocksink was covered over and integrated into the sewer system in the mid to late 1800s.
Today, the Cohocksink sewer system must manage stormwater drainage from more than 1,000 acres of urban land. 

To get the inside scoop on the Cohocksink improvements, we put a few questions to project manager Bill Dobbins, an engineer who has worked with Philadelphia Water since 2001.

This diagram shows how a tree trench like the one planned for Moss Park collects and filters water before slowly releasing it into the ground. Click for more info.

Philadelphia Water held two community meetings in the Northeast in late August to talk about upcoming Green City, Clean Waters projects. Both projects will bring green infrastructure tools that manage stormwater to neighborhood recreation areas—the Max Myers Playground at Busleton and Magee avenues and Moss Park at Torresdale and Cheltenham avenues.

The Max Myers meeting was held Aug. 21 and covered plans for improvements to the park area and nearby streets that include two rain gardens and a stormwater storage basin beneath an existing baseball diamond. In addition to managing stormwater from the surrounding streets to address sewer overflows, the rain gardens will beautify the park with landscaping that includes plants and shrubs. Park users will also get a brand-new baseball diamond after the storage basin is complete.

Philadelphia Parks and Recreation is a partner for both projects, and Take Back Your Neighborhood, Councilwoman Quinones-Sanchez and Councilman Bobby Henon helped spread word about the Max Myers meeting.

The Moss Park meeting was held Aug. 24, and current plans include managing stormwater from nearby streets through the use of a tree trench featuring 16 new trees. As currently planned, the project will include replacing a weathered sidewalk along Ditman Street. The Moss improvements also include two new rain gardens, a new path, and an underground stormwater storage basin.
The Aug. 24 meeting was held with the help of Councilman Henon, Parks and Recreation, and the Wissinoming Civic Association.

Because the projects are still in the early planning phase, these meetings focused on getting feedback from residents and potential construction start dates aren’t yet available. Stay tuned at Phillywatersheds.org for more updates and look for invites for the next round of meetings about this project.

A crew of volunteers celebrates after hauling an impressive load of trash from the Delaware River. Credit: Living Lands and Waters.

Philadelphia Water is sponsoring a big clean up on the Delaware River with Living Lands and Waters and the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, and we're still looking for some fresh volunteers out on the water. In the first few clean up days, members of the community who care about the health of the Delaware have already collected nearly 10,000 pounds of trash!

That's almost five tons of litter and other pollution that would otherwise be hurting wildlife habitats and damaging a major Philadelphia drinking water source.
So don't just imagine what we could accomplish with a few more volunteer crews—put an exclamation point on the end of your summer and join us!

Clean ups will be held this week and weekend, and continue through Tuesday, September 1. Designated work days will include two shifts, one from 9 a.m. to noon and one from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. In order to coordinate sites, all volunteers must RSVP by clicking here and filling out the form a the bottom of the page. Supplies and free food will be provided.

Cleaning crews will be based out of the following locations:

Penn’s Landing – 101 S Columbus Blvd Philadelphia, PA 19106 (Walnut East parking lot, closest to the Seaport Museum and Marina)

Ridley Park Marina- 401 S Swarthmore Ave Ridley Park, PA 19078

Delair Boat Ramp – 17 Derousse Avenue Pennsauken, NJ 08110

More details will be emailed to volunteers prior to event.

Living Lands & Waters is an Illinois-based environmental organization established by Chad Pregracke in 1998. Read more about the fascinating story behind Living Lands and Waters on their website. Questions? Contact Living Lands and Waters at 563.505.8321 or amber@livinglandsandwaters.org.

From the Living Lands and Waters Instagram account:

Almost 10,000lbs of trash removed from the #DelawareRiver in just three #rivercleanups! #Philadelphia

A photo posted by Living Lands & Waters (@livinglandsandwaters) on Aug 24, 2015 at 10:40am PDT