City of Philadelphia & Center City District Unveil Upgrades for the 13th Street Bike Lane
New streetscape investments to support cyclist safety in Midtown Village and Callowhill
Contact
Leo Manning, 215.440.5500, pr@centercityphila.org
Ryan Wall, 445.328.4943, otis@phila.gov
PHILADELPHIA (May 18, 2026) — The City of Philadelphia and Center City District (CCD) today announced several upgrades for the bicycle lane on 13th Street, from Locust to Wood streets, to improve safety for people biking in Center City.
The project includes new green paint to clearly mark potential conflict points in the bike lane and new flexible delineator posts to increase the separation between people biking and people driving. In addition, 18 modular plastic curbs were donated by Center City District and by the City of Philadelphia’s Streets Department of Transportation between Locust and Chestnut streets.
“Mexico City used protected lane separators like these to build over 150 miles of safer bike infrastructure, and we’re proud to donate 18 to pilot that same approach here,” CCD President and CEO Prema Katari Gupta said. “It’s a low-cost way to create a safer, more accessible downtown that works for cyclists and businesses alike.”
Cycling trips have grown significantly in recent years, with 2025 data from Replica noting that more than 18,000 trips to and through Center City occur by bicycle on the average weekday. According to the most recent American Community Survey data, 4.5% of Center City residents and 5.8% of South Philadelphia residents bike to work, representing some of the highest rates nationwide. Indego bikeshare data through the end of 2025 reveal that nearly 700,000 rides on the system have started or ended in Center City.
“The updates along the 13th Street bike lane will make this critical downtown corridor safer for everyone: cyclists, pedestrians, and drivers,” said Kelley Yemen, Director of the Office of Multimodal Planning for the City of Philadelphia. “This infrastructure is essential to achieve the City’s Vision Zero goal of eliminating traffic fatalities and serious injuries. Reaching that goal requires all of us, and we’re fortunate to have partners like CCD supporting this effort.”
These investments are complementary to the work being done by the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems (OTIS) and Vision Zero Philadelphia, which released the Vision Zero Action Plan 2030 that calls for improvements to the 12% of Philadelphia streets that account for 80% of all traffic deaths and serious injuries known as the High Injury Network. The plan is part of the commitment made by Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s executive order to eliminate all traffic deaths on Philadelphia streets.
For more information about Vision Zero Philadelphia, visit visionzerophl.com.
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Center City District, partner to property owners and downtown stakeholders, is the steward and advocate for a clean, safe and thriving Center City Philadelphia. Find us at www.centercityphila.org.
