March 15, 2024
The U.S. Department of Transportation announced a $158 million Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods grant to support the Chinatown Stitch, a project to cap part of the Vine Street Expressway and to reconnect the Chinatown neighborhood in Philadelphia. Construction is expected to begin in 2027.
The U.S. Department of Transportation announced a $158 million Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods grant to support the Chinatown Stitch, a project to cap part of the Vine Street Expressway and to reconnect the Chinatown neighborhood in Philadelphia. U.S. Senator Bob Casey, U.S. Representative Brendan Boyle, U.S. Representative Dwight Evans, and Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker were among those at a press conference earlier this week to celebrate this award and express their commitment to Chinatown and to enhancing the city’s infrastructure.
According to the project fact sheet, the Chinatown Stitch includes four phases: final engineering and design, permitting and bidding activities, construction activities, and the implementation of the Equitable Outcomes Action Plan. The project “aims to address historic inequities caused by transportation infrastructure, restore community connectivity, and improve quality of life.”
This award follows over a year of discussion and public engagement activities that resulted in the December 2023 release of a vision report and renderings for the cap. This study was led by the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Transportation, Infrastructure, and Sustainability (OTIS) in partnership with the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation (PCDC). DVRPC staff helped support traffic modeling, communications, and public engagement.
The design selected by the community will result in two caps covering Vine Street Expressway for a total of two-and-half blocks. One cap will begin at 10th Street and end midway between 11th and 12th Streets, and the second cap will cover 12th to 13th Streets. It will also make adjustments to Vine Street and add green space and traffic calming elements to the neighborhood. These improvements are in addition to the Vine Street Corridor Safety Improvements, funded through the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) and based on DVRPC’s 2018 Reviving Vine study. This project is anticipated to be constructed prior to construction of the highway cap and was included in alternatives analysis.
Construction is expected to begin in 2027.