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Investing in safety in West Fairmount Park

by Fairmount Park Conservancy on October 10, 2025

For more than a decade, Fairmount Park Conservancy has been working to improve the conditions of West Fairmount Park through capital projects in the Centennial District that address a multitude of challenges, including safe access and use for pedestrians and cyclists.

Since we moved our headquarters to Ohio House at the intersection of Belmont and Montgomery Avenues in 2021, we have witnessed daily the challenges posed by infrastructure that is hostile to pedestrians and cyclists. We know that change is possible – and necessary – in West Fairmount Park, and we are committed to helping the City of Philadelphia carry forward a new vision for the park.

 

Recent West Fairmount Park Improvements

  • Completed in 2018 with support from the William Penn and Knight foundations, and in partnership with Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, Philadelphia Water Department, and the Centennial Parkside CDC, Fairmount Park Conservancy’s Parkside Edge Project created new walkways and seating areas, bench swings, plants and trees, and stormwater infrastructure along Parkside Avenue at the edge of West Fairmount Park.
  • Most critically, the project improved safe access into and through the park with  safer pedestrian crossings and traffic calming along Parkside Avenue, in coordination with the Streets Department’s installation of two-way bike lanes along the Avenue.
  • Since the project’s completion in summer 2018, reported deaths and serious injuries on Parkside Avenue have fallen from 5 (between 2013-2017) to 2 (between 2018-2022), to 0 in 2023 (data not yet available for 2024-2025). 
  • As a result, Parkside Avenue is no longer listed on Philadelphia’s High Injury Network – the city’s designation for the 12% of streets that account for 80% of all traffic-related deaths and serious injuries.
  • In October 2022, the Conservancy completed a second phase of the Parkside Edge project, including new landscaping, walkways and seating, ADA access, restriped bike lanes, and a new pedestrian-activated signal crosswalk and two small traffic roundabouts on Concourse Drive. 
  • Since the second phase of the project was completed in 2022, reported deaths and serious injuries have fallen from 3 (between 2018-2022) to 0 since fall 2022 (data not yet available for 2024-2025).

 

Upcoming Park Improvements

  • The Conservancy’s next project in West Fairmount Park is the revitalization of the Welsh Fountain, an effort that responds directly to community wishes for safer access to West Fairmount Park from East Parkside.
  • With a groundbreaking tentatively scheduled for fall 2026, the project will restore the iconic Welsh Fountain and transform the park into a family friendly space with play features, new landscaping and trees, and new seating.
  • Most importantly, it includes the following critical improvements related to pedestrian and cyclist safety in the park:
    • Six raised crossings, improved signage, and restriping of existing crosswalks and “sharrows” on E. and W. Memorial Drives, Avenue of the Republic, and S. Concourse Drive
    • Two sets of channelized islands on S. Concourse Drive before and after existing roundabouts
    • Two sets of speed cushions for Avenue of the Republic in front of the Please Touch Museum
    • “Road diet” reduction of traffic lanes to one way on E. and W. Memorial Drives
    • New sidewalks along E. and W. Memorial Drives
    • New accessible pedestrian paths through the Welsh Fountain landscape
    • 10 new bike racks

 

Get Involved

Parkside Edge show us how coordinated planning and investment can produce life-saving results. Together, we can do even more in West Fairmount Park:

  • Show your support for projects like the Welsh Fountain redesign that meaningfully improve conditions in West Fairmount Park and are already in progress by contacting your elected officials and encouraging them to prioritize these efforts. 
  • Ask your elected officials to help advance the new Centennial Subdistrict Plan, a plan developed by Philadelphia Parks & Recreation in 2024 in partnership with Olin and supported by the Conservancy, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Please Touch Museum, and Philadelphia Zoo. The plan proposes a number of traffic calming measures and pedestrian safety interventions to improve accessibility and safety the experience for park users. 
  • Sign up for our newsletter to stay updated on upcoming projects, programs, and events in West Fairmount Park.