Getting Around Philadelphia

     It would be wise to leave your automobile behind when going downtown because the old streets, though arrow straight, are very narrow. Unless you must have your car, allow a bus or cab driver to negotiate the congested, often two-lane, streets.

Street System
     Most north-south streets, beginning with Front Street west of the Delaware River, are numbered; east-west streets are named. Broad Street, the major north-south artery, is the equivalent of 14th Street. All downtown north-south streets are alternate one-way with the exception of Broad, which has two lanes in each direction. Market Street is one-way eastbound between 20th and 15th streets. Westbound motorists should use JFK Boulevard at this point. Chestnut Street is closed to all traffic except buses between 8th and 18th streets from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.
     Since Market Street is the principal east-west artery, north and south numbering begins at this street. Westward numbering begins at Front Street.
     Right turns on red are permitted after a full stop, unless otherwise posted. Rush hours in general are 7-9:30 a.m. and 4-6:30 p.m. The speed limit on most streets is 25 mph, or as posted.

Parking
     Though chances of getting on-street parking on the clogged streets are virtually zero, some metered parking is permitted on side streets and less traveled avenues: Parking meter rates are 25c for 15 minutes. Rates in the numerous lots and garages range from $2.50 for 30 minutes; $12 for 8 hours; and $25 for 24 hours.

By Car
     The major route from the south is I-95 to Philadelphia International Airport. Follow I-95 to I-676 to the city center; enter the business district at 15th Street. From the north I-95 leads into the northeastern section of the city. From the west I-676/US 30 traverses the downtown area as the Vine Street Expressway (I-676), and I-76 leaves the Pennsylvania Turnpike at Valley Forge and enters Philadelphia at the Schuylkill Expressway.
     US 1 (Roosevelt Boulevard) traverses northeast Philadelphia, but both the north and south entrances into town are heavily commercialized and rather slow. From the east both the New Jersey Turnpike and I-295, which run north-south in New Jersey, provide ready access to either US 30, which enters the city center via the Benjamin Franklin Bridge and I-676, or to New Jersey SR 42 (North-South Freeway or Atlantic City Expressway), which approaches the Walt Whitman Bridge and south Philadelphia.