A pedestrian-friendly revamp of Market Street in Old City officially launched this week, with the goal of making the city’s historic district safer and more welcoming in the big anniversary year of 2026 and beyond.
The $16 million project will narrow Market Street between 2nd and 6th streets from four lanes to three and add raised, sidewalk-like bicycle lanes. It will create a cobblestoned, raised intersection at 2nd and Market, expand a median strip into a pedestrian plaza, and make other road improvements.
Supporters of the project also hope to place a statue of the Lenape leader Chief Tamanend on the plaza. It would be relocated from a spot a couple blocks away, next to an I-95 on-ramp, if Indigenous groups approve the move.
“We’re talking about a tremendous civic space, one that this neighborhood deserves,” said Michael Carroll, deputy managing director of the city’s Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems, at a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday. “We’re talking about a new historic landmark in Philadelphia that really signifies what this whole area, this whole city, this whole country is about. And we’re talking about safety.”
The project began almost a decade ago with an effort by the Old City District, the area’s business improvement organization, to reimagine the neighborhood ahead of the U.S. Semiquincentennial or 250th Anniversary in 2026, OCD executive director Job Itzkowitz said.
Celebrations of the country’s birthday, FIFA World Cup games, the MLB All-Star game and other events are expected to draw millions of visitors to Philadelphia starting a little more than a year from now. Many will visit Old City historic sites along or near the revamped section of Market Street, like the Liberty Bell, Franklin Court and Independence Hall.
The project area is “a key historic corridor,” Carroll said.
“We anticipate this is going to be a magnet for tourism. It’s where a lot of the social fabric of our country first came together. We want people to visit a space like that and really just soak that up,” he said.
A focus on traffic safety
Work actually began last month with the removal of brick pavers from the Market Street median and crosswalks and the placement of temporary asphalt.
As construction continues, the street will temporarily become eastbound only to allow contractors to use part of the roadway for construction, said Kelley Yemen, director of the city’s office of multimodal planning. Parking will be restricted at times, and cars in spots with “No Parking” signs will be towed.
Once the project is complete, sometime before summer 2026, the stretch between 2nd and 6th will have one lane of traffic in each direction, down from two currently, plus a central turning lane, per OTIS. There will continue to be curbside parking.
The project will add dedicated left-turn lanes at intersections, sidewalk bump-outs at intersections, longer bump-outs at bus stops, and upgraded wheelchair ramps.
Pedestrian crossings will be shorter, and new traffic signals will be installed with new signal timing to prioritize pedestrians. Officials noted that Market Street is on the city’s High-Injury Network, the 12% of streets where 80% of traffic fatalities and serious injuries occur, and said the work will help the city get closer to achieving its Vision Zero goal of no traffic deaths.
“This project really shares that vision of how to make our streets safer, but also usable for all modes of transportation, whether you’re driving, whether you’re walking, bicycling, whatever it may be,” said Councilman Mark Squilla, a supporter of the plan from early on.
The Old City District’s initial concept for the project included curb-protected, on-street bike lanes, but the final design adopts parking-separated, raised lanes, somewhat like the raised bikeway on the Delaware River Trail.
Most of Philly’s bike lanes are delineated just by a line of paint on the road. Over the past decade flexi-posts have been added to some lanes as well, or they’ve been protected by being placed between the curb and a row of parked cars. The city is also considering putting low concrete barriers along the heavily used bike lanes on Spruce and Pine streets.
Chris Gale, executive director of the Bicycle Coalition of Philadelphia, said he was encouraged to see raised lanes now being installed as well.
“We’re very excited to see these changes happening. If they start in Old City, let’s get them through the rest of the city,” he said. “This is a great way to prove the concept works in Philadelphia.”
Part of broader vision for Old City
When Itzkowitz first brought the project idea to Squilla several years ago, the councilman was enthusiastic and suggested redoing Market Street all the way to City Hall. After consulting with Paul Levy, then the CEO of the Center City District, they decided that would be too ambitious.
Levy said, “that sounds great, but there’s something to be said for incrementalism,” Itzkowitz recalled. “So why don’t you do it over there first, see how it goes, and we’ll go from there.”
OCD commissioned a survey and study that led to the initial road diet proposal in 2017, which the city adopted and agreed to help fund.
The Independence Historical Trust, a nonprofit that supports Independence National Historic Park, helped raise private funds and worked to ensure the project had the “highest design standards” and material standards, Itzkowitz said.
“With this substantial refresh of Market Street and, within it, the creation of Tamanend Plaza, we aim to demonstrate the momentum for more enhancements in our historical area for all citizens of Philadelphia and indeed from the rest of the world to discover the pride in this place for centuries to come,” said Bill Marrazzo, who is board chair at the Independence Historical Trust and WHYY’s CEO.
The trust is in discussions with Native American tribes as it seeks their agreement to the move of the Tamanend statue, Marrazzo said.
The trust’s support for the Market Street work is part of its broader vision for the district that includes renovation of a park at 2nd and Market and creation of the Commerce Street pedestrian walkway to connect several historic sites. It has proposed road narrowing and other work around Franklin Square, pedestrian enhancements on 6th Street, and other projects.
In addition to $4 million in contributions from the Independence Historical Trust and funding from the Old City District, the Market Street improvement project is receiving assistance from the state through its Automated Red-Light Enforcement program, Department of Community and Economic Development, Multimodal Transportation Fund, and Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, OTIS said. The U.S. Department of Housing and Land Development also provided funds.
