City will replace delineator posts on Walnut Street Bridge bike lane

Like a phoenix from its ashes — or perhaps some lego towers from a toy chest — the delineator posts buffering the bike lane on the Walnut Street Bridge shall rise again.

The posts were installed in the summer of 2015 through the city’s proceeds from red light camera enforcement, but didn’t quite last long enough to celebrate a second birthday. While the posts are designed to bend rather than break when hit by a vehicle, they were apparently hit with enough frequency to eventually break or get lodged in the undercarriage of a passing car. When the last one was flattened a few weeks ago, Philadelphia’s cycling community mourned the sacrifice the posts made, laying down their plastic bodies to protect — however temporarily — the lives of cyclists pedalling over the bridge.

But in their noble stead others will soon stand. The plastic posts separating cars and bikes on the bridge will be replaced sometime this spring, said Mike Dunn, a spokesman for Mayor Jim Kenney.

Once the posts are replaced, riders and drivers alike are encouraged to report any subsequent breaks to the city via its 3-1-1 program.

Walnut Street Bridge - a lone, flattened delineator post | Ashley Hahn / PlanPhilly
(Ashley Hahn / PlanPhilly)

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