DVRPC’s Expo: Experimental Pop-ups program offers assistance to communities (counties, municipalities, community/neighborhood groups, or partnerships therein) in the region to test innovative solutions to transportation problems through demonstration, or pop-up projects. Program staff assists communities to design, implement, and measure projects that apply various pedestrian, bicycle, transit, and roadway strategies that address safety and placemaking.
DVRPC offers a variety of technical assistance to selected communities with specific, attainable, near-term projects that promote livability and complete streets. While most communities are primarily interested in having someone to help think through the possibilities and process, DVRPC’s role on selected Expo projects might include the following tasks:
- Project management
- Design concepts
- Identifying materials
- Signing and striping plans
- Permit application
- Communications
- Promotion
- Agency and stakeholder coordination
- Creating community feedback surveys
- Traffic counts for pedestrians, bicyclists, and vehicles
Please complete this form to tell us about your interest in DVRPC’s Expo: Experimental Pop-up Program. Answer each question as specifically as you can; it’s okay if you don’t know everything about the potential project yet. DVRPC may be in touch with you to learn more depending on DVRPC capacity and if there is a good match for technical support for your project.
If you are working on your own pop-up project in the region and want to share the project with DVRPC to help promote it on social media, or you’d like potentially share information in future, please tell us more here.
April 20, 2022 Webinar: Experimental Pop-Ups: Tactical Urbanism in Greater Philadelphia
On Wednesday, April 20th DVRPC hosted a webinar to share regional examples of pop-up transportation projects. Influential community leaders shared how and why they brought these projects to fruition. Panelists included: Kimberley Bezak, co-creator of the Narberth Cycling Club (Borough of Narberth), Linda McIsaac, Founder, Gather in the Circle (Newtown Township), Cassandra Duffey, Borough Administrator (Borough of Collingswood) and DVRPC program staff.
News
Expo: Experimental Pop-Ups Test Innovative Solutions to Transportation Problems
Expo: Experimental Pop-Ups Test Innovative Solutions to Transportation Problems
A new program is helping communities explore lighter, cheaper, and faster solutions to their transportation problems. DVRPC’s Expo: Experimental Pop-ups program assists communities in addressing safety concerns and improving access for pedestrians and people riding bikes by testing possible solutions through demonstration or pop-up projects. Program staff work with counties, municipalities, community/neighborhood groups, and other partners to think through the possibilities and processes for specific, attainable, near-term projects that promote livability and safer streets for all.
One of the ways Expo can support project partners is by measuring project outcomes through different kinds of data collection.For one recent project in Media Borough, DVRPC measured the impact intersection murals have on reducing speed and increasing stop sign compliance. Intersection murals were identified as a traffic calming strategy in the Media Borough Traffic Calming Plan, funded by DVRPC’s Transportation and Community Development Initiative (TCDI) program; this demonstration put the recommendation into practice. Data captured by DVRPC showed an increase in stop sign compliance following the addition of the mural, shown in the table below. Media Borough was inspired by the outcome of this project to pursue the creation of more intersection murals.
Another recent pop-up in Collingswood sought to implement some of the recommendations named in the 2020 Connect Collingswood and Haddon Township Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan, another TCDI-funded study. DVRPC worked with the Borough of Collingswood, Cross County Connection TMA, Camden County, and PATCO to add traffic calming elements near PATCO’s Collingswood Station. Advisory bicycle lanes and curb bump outs were added on Atlantic Avenue, and data captured showed a 7.3% decrease in vehicle speeds above 25 mph. After painted curb extensions and delineators were added to narrow the intersection of Collings, Atlantic, and Lakeview, Collings Avenue saw a 18.5% decrease in vehicles going above 25 mph. The graphs below show changes in vehicular speed before and after the project on Atlantic and Collings avenues. Slow speeds are safer for pedestrians, especially for more vulnerable populations such as children and older adults.
To learn more about these and other Expo programs, register for the webinar Experimental Pop-Ups: Tactical Urbanism in Greater Philadelphia, on April 20th.
Recent Projects
All Aboard Atlantic
Collingswood Borough, Camden County, NJ
Summer-Fall 2021
DVRPC partnered with Collingswood Borough in New Jersey for an Experimental Pop-Ups Program (ExPo) project titled 'All Aboard Atlantic Avenue'. The complete streets demonstration featured the region’s first advisory bike lanes, curb extensions, some with painted designs by a local artist, others delineated by armadillos or flexible bollards, and a temporary curb ramp. Advisory bike lanes are a type of shared street where two-way motor vehicle traffic shares a single center lane, and bike lanes are marked by dashed lines on either side. Vehicles can enter the bike lanes in order to pass one another.
The demonstration project stemmed from the feedback received during outreach for the 2020 Connect Collingswood and Haddon Township Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan, which was funded through DVRPC’s TCDI grant program. The project provided an opportunity to collect data and community feedback, which will help guide future infrastructure priorities. The project was a partnership between DVRPC, Collingswood Borough, Cross County Connection Transportation Management Association, Camden County, and PATCO, and was installed by the borough on August 14, 2021.
Wheels on Windsor
Narberth Borough, Montgomery County, PA
Fall 2020
DVRPC partnered with Narberth Borough and the Narberth Cycling Club to build a protected bike lane on Windsor Avenue as a 10-day pilot project. It demonstrated features of “complete streets” design (i.e. streets that accommodate all users and improve mobility), and ran from November 20 through November 30, 2020.
The pilot included installation of a two-way protected bike lane along Windsor Avenue, temporary removal of a left-turn lane at Narberth Avenue, and enhanced signage and pavement markings to remind drivers to yield to people walking and biking at intersections. The demonstration provided an opportunity to collect relevant data and community feedback with minimal cost and use of Borough resources. The pilot is the first step toward implementation of the bicycle network goals in Narberth’s Comprehensive Plan. Feedback and data from the pilot will help guide bicycle infrastructure priorities and possibly future pilots and projects in Narberth.
West Chester Bike Lane Demonstration
West Chester Borough, Delaware County, PA
Fall 2019
On October 19, 2019, DVRPC joined the Transportation Management Association of Chester County (TMACC), Traffic Planning and Design (TPD), Chester County Planning Commission and Bike Chester County for a parking protected bicycle lane demonstration on Market Street in the heart of West Chester. The three-hour demonstration closed a right-turn-only lane, and relocated curb parking by 10 feet to create a safe bicycle lane for riders of all ages. The demonstration grew out of DVRPC’s 2018 West Chester Pike at Paoli Pike Multimodal Traffic and Circulation Study, which found that excess lane capacity for vehicles on this block of Market Street could be reallocated for use by cyclists. This successful demonstration helped raise awareness for high-quality bike infrastructure in West Chester, and offered TMACC and DVRPC a model of how to pursue pop-up or pilot project opportunities in the future.