Reimagining Benjamin Franklin Parkway

Designed in the Beaux Arts tradition and modeled after the Champs-Elysses in Paris, Benjamin Franklin Parkway was envisioned by Jacque Gréber in 1917 as a grand civic open space surrounded by museums and other public buildings and traversed by a multiway boulevard with central travel spine for carriages and automobiles. In Gréber’s scheme, civic structures were set within embroideries of gardens much like the Tuileries of Paris. Although several great museums adorn the Parkway, Gréber’s vision was not fully realized; many of the spaces intended for gardens and civic institutions remain vacant and his great terrace overlooking the Schuylkill River was never realized.

The Parkway serves not only as a treasure for all Philadelphians but also is intensely used as the neighborhood park for its many adjacent residents. Unfortunately, traffic congestion, poor transit service, and inadequate bike and pedestrian facilities make it difficult for residents to enjoy access to the parkway. Boisterous groups on ATVs and motorcycles sweep through Eakin’s Oval in front of the Art Museum and disrupt the enjoyment of the Parkway.

The landscape architects were charged with developing solutions to unlock the Parkway’s potential as a great urban park in the center of one of America’s greatest cities. A robust community engagement process was utilized including a speakers symposium on the history and cultural importance of the parkway, meetings with property owners and residents along the parkway, focus groups on a variety of topics relevant to the Parkway, pop-up events, and two citywide surveys to identify issues and consider plan alternatives.

The resulting plan dramatically reduces the role of the automobile within this great space. The outer lanes of the parkway will be converted to protected bike lanes for slower moving cyclists and space for pedestrians to stroll and push baby carriages, or jog on a soft surface path. The central spine of the parkway will eventually see a reduction in lanes with accommodations for parades and celebrations. Gréber’s vision of continuous gardens will be revived, with the potential for these green spaces to become the Commons, a great botanical garden for Philadelphia. New forms respect Gréber’s Beaux Arts vision; a cross axis will extend to the river where a pedestrian bridge will connect to the revitalized railroad yards. Where this axis meets the river, it will connect with the existing Schuylkill River Trail and to a new river taxi terminal and kayak launch.

The plan was pre-scored for Sustainable Sites and a set of performance metrics established to ensure that stormwater will be treated onsite through green infrastructure, native plants will predominate the new gardens, and air quality will be improved. An events overlay outlines a strategy for accommodating major events without the need to close the parkway. Clusters of new facilities for food service, café, kiosks and food trucks are combined with bus stops, bike stations and lockers, bathrooms, and other amenities to accommodate visitors.

The framework for greatness is still visible, but fruition has been delayed for 106 years since Gréber’s original plan. This new vision for the Benjamin Franklin Parkway provides a funding, management, and phasing strategy that will ensure that this beloved landscape will become one of America’s great urban parks.