November 2025 Newsletter

November 2025 Newsletter

Vision Zero Action Plan 2030

After over a year working collaboratively with stakeholders, partner agencies, and Philadelphians across the city, we’re thrilled to announce the release of the Vision Zero Action Plan 2030! In this newsletter we have included some highlights of the plan. Visit the website to check out the full report or scroll through the Story Map (optimized for mobile viewing) to dive further into what we have achieved since committing to Vision Zero in 2017 and the full picture of what we plan to do in the next five years to improve traffic safety and reduce fatalities and serious injuries on our roadways.  

In March 2024, Mayor Parker signed an executive order recommitting Philadelphia to reach zero traffic deaths. This Vision Zero Action Plan is a critical step in accomplishing the goal to eliminate traffic deaths in our city. It builds on two previous action plans from 2017 and 2020. Getting to zero deaths in Philadelphia requires implementing new concepts, rigorously testing their effectiveness, discarding what does not work, and doubling down on what does. The following goals were set forth in the Vision Zero executive order. These goals are reflected in the action items found in the Action Plan.

Goal 1: Issue a new five-year Vision Zero Action Plan by the end of 2025

Goal 2: Update the High Injury Network, which represents the roads where the majority of fatal and serious injury crashes occur, and take steps to program safety measures along the entire network by 2030.

Goal 3: Assist the Streets Department in reviewing and publishing all checklists intended to ensure compliance with the Complete Streets ordinance of the Philadelphia code.

Goal 4: Promote a citywide culture of safer driving, walking, and biking.

Goal 5: Work with the School District of Philadelphia to educate students about traffic safety.

Goal 6: Work to reduce fatal and serious injury crashes as quickly as possible in support of the regional Vision Zero 2050 goal.

Vision Zero Task Force

The Vision Zero Task Force is made up of City departments, external agencies, and stakeholders who play a role in improving traffic safety. To support the goals of the task force, there are five subcommittees: Safety Policy, Safety Data, Safer Speeds & Streets, Safer People, and Safer Vehicles. These subcommittees formed working groups to develop action items for the Action Plan.  Action items will measurably increase traffic safety and meet the goals of the Vision Zero executive order.

The Vision Zero Task pledges “to incorporate the Vision Zero Action Plan goals, principles, and values into everything our departments, agencies, and organizations do. We commit to zero traffic fatalities.”

Traffic Crash Trends

Severe crashes impact hundreds of Philadelphians each year. Vision Zero focuses on eliminating the crashes that result in deaths and serious injuries. Since 2020, fatalities have remained elevated, with at least 120 deaths each year. The most significant trend in recent years was the spike in fatalities in 2020 and the persistence of elevated fatal crashes. In 2024, 120 Philadelphians lost their lives due to crashes. The average fatalities per year over the last five years is over 50 percent higher than the five-year average prior to 2020—a staggering increase.

A new High Injury Network guides priorities for the Action Plan. 80 percent of all traffic deaths and serious injuries occurred on just 12 percent of Philadelphia streets. This is called the High Injury Network (HIN). It is based on five years of crash data. The Vision Zero Task Force prioritizes safety investments along these corridors. For more detailed information about the HIN, visit the  High Injury Network Dashboard.

Community Engagement

Throughout 2025, nearly 3,000 Philadelphians shared their concerns on traffic safety. The City engaged Philadelphians through roundtable conversations, in-person surveys, online surveys, and market research polling. This provided a statistically valid sample of Philadelphia’s views on traffic safety. In total, nearly 3,000 individuals provided feedback. The City worked to ensure that feedback was meaningful and representative.

Between February and June 2025 the City hosted 24 roundtable events across Philadelphia. About 300 residents took part in these talks. They came from various neighborhoods, agencies, and organizations, bringing different viewpoints. The roundtables featured an interactive tabletop exercise. The activity facilitated discussions of Vision Zero beyond the individual experience. It encouraged participants to consider the needs of other roadway users. The activity also educated community members on Vision Zero concepts. Critically, community members discussed the tradeoffs and challenges associated with the various tools and strategies. The 90-minute focus groups provided valuable input to the direction of the plan. All in all, there were 24 roundtables held, 83 community partner organizations engaged, and 247 residents participated. There were 447 online surveys and 487 in-person surveys collected. Additionally, there were 1,558 phone-based market research polling surveys gathered.

Across the four outreach methods, speeding emerged as the single most pervasive concern. This was true no matter the geography, demographics, or local context. Running red lights and stop signs was nearly as common a concern as speeding. Residents described it as socially normalized behavior, especially on high volume corridors and at problematic intersections. Distracted driving was the third most frequent traffic safety concern. In response to these concerns, residents wanted street designs that calm traffic. They wanted to create spaces for all road users. They also wanted to educate the public about safe travel and enforce road rules.

The roundtables revealed that Safer Streets solutions are popular. Participants said that physical, infrastructure-related changes work best to protect people and alter driver behavior. Philadelphians want more traffic calming measures, like speed humps. They also seek comprehensive street redesigns to address their concerns. Participants in the roundtable stressed the importance of safety for certain popular destinations. This includes community hubs like schools, senior centers, and public parks.

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Infrastructure Solutions Team

The City of Philadelphia released the two-year update to the Procurement Forecast in coordination with the 41st Annual Philadelphia Micro Economic Development (MED) Week.  The updated forecast highlights more than 125 contract opportunities across four agencies, totaling over $500 million in upcoming work, including new Professional Services opportunities.     

We would like to express our gratitude to the Procurement Department, Streets Department, Water Department, Department of Aviation, and Philadelphia Gas Works for their collaboration and partnership throughout this initiative.  

The Procurement Forecast is spearheaded by the Infrastructure Solutions Team (IST). The Infrastructure Solutions Team’s mission is dedicated to creating opportunities for Philadelphians to build wealth through strategic investments in local infrastructure. 

The City of Philadelphia is expanding access to economic opportunity for all. Our team focuses on:

• Workforce development. We ensure that infrastructure workers across all fields reflect the population of Philadelphia.
• Business participation. We work to increase partnerships with small and local businesses on City contracts. 

Read here for more information on MED Week: City Kicks Off the 41st Annual Philadelphia Micro Economic Development (MED) Week | Office of Economic Opportunity | City of Philadelphia

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Safe Routes Philly kicked off Pedestrian Safety month celebrating Walk & Roll to School Day! This year’s celebration was extra special as the inaugural Greg Wright Safe Routes Philly Leadership Award was presented to the award’s namesake, Greg Wright. Gideon Elementary School’s Community School Coordinator Greg Wright embodies the joy and passion necessary to create and maintain a walking school bus program. For nearly ten years, Greg has led groups of Gideon students as they meet weekly on a corner to walk to school together. Greg’s work has inspired new Walking School Bus programs around the city. Huge thank you to Mr. Wright!

Safe Routes Philly’s Walktober season wrapped up on November 14 with Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day! Despite being the first year Safe Routes Philly officially participated in this event, over 400 Philadelphians dedicated their Friday morning to honor the living legacy of Ruby Bridges. Special thanks goes out to Councilmember Bass for introducing and passing a resolution to make November 14 Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day. See how schools celebrated in our latest Safe Routes Philly post on Instagram.

Upcoming Events

You’ll see us and our partners out in the community at the events listed below.

• Monday, December 1 – Cobbs Creek Neighbors Meeting, 5:30pm (Blanche A Nixon Cobbs Creek Library, 5800 Cobbs Creek Parkway)

Vision Zero In the News

Philadelphia

SEPTA expanding red bus lanes in Center City and South Philadelphia (6abc)

More than 1,000 Philadelphians petition for a safer Fairmount Park (Plan Philly WHYY)

Hyundai and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Advance Child Passenger Safety Through Car Seat Check Event (PR Newswire)

Philly bike advocates gather at Fairmount Park to remember fallen rider, call for safer streets (WHYY) 

PennDOT construction to close Vine Street intersection for months (6abc)

Speeding drivers now face $100 ticket after Broad Street speed cameras activated (6abc)

Hoboken has gone 8 years without a traffic death. Can Philly replicate its success? (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Construction begins on new bike lane around City Hall (Bill Penn WHYY)

Campus traffic safety initiatives progress through university, city efforts (The Temple News)

What We’re Reading 📰

• Landscape Analysis of Public Benefit Enrollment Approaches in the US (Urban Institute)
• Trump Cancels Trail, Bike-Lane Grants Deemed ‘Hostile’ to Cars (Bloomberg)
• Vision Zero for Youth U.S. Leadership Award (Vision Zero for Youth)
• SFMTA finds new cameras cut speeding 72% at 15 sites, spurring changed driver behavior (Local News Matters Bay Area)
• Why your next car should be an electric cargo bike (The Verge)

Vision Zero Jobs

Multimodal Community Coordinator, Managing Director’s Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems (OTIS)

Join the Conversation

Vision Zero aims to eliminate all traffic deaths and severe injuries on Philadelphia streets www.visionzerophl.com. Follow OTIS on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, and help us share safety messages with your networks using the hashtag #VisionZeroPHL.

Do you have events, accomplishments, or calls to action to share with the Vision Zero Task Force, subcommittees, and community? Send your updates for next month’s newsletter by Friday, December 5 to Virginia Lynn at virginia.lynn@phila.gov.