Philadelphia recently announced plans to reconnect the Chinatown neighborhood after the Vine Street Expressway split up the area, NBC Philadelphia reports. The city hopes the plans will address some of the damage the expressway caused.
According to ABC 6, the city collaborated with PennDOT and the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation (PCDC) to create what they’re calling the “Chinatown Stitch.”
“We call this project the Chinatown Stitch because it will sew together the disconnected parts of Chinatown,” Mike Carroll, the deputy managing director of the Philadelphia Office of Transportation, Infrastructure, and Sustainability, told ABC 6.
According to NBC Philadelphia, the “stitch” would cap two blocks of the Vine Street Expressway between 10th and 11th Streets, and 12th and 13th Streets. The block between 11th and 12th Streets would be left open for ventilation.
Each day, thousands of cars use the expressway, making life noisier and more complicated for the Chinatown community. The city’s new plan could be a step in the right direction.
“Today shows there is hope in sight, and a vision and a dream that our residents have been talking about,” John Chin, the executive director of the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Coalition, told CBS News.
The plan comes as Chinatown community advocates continue their fight against a proposed new 76ers arena that could present a further blight on the neighborhood.
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