Hallelujah! Traffic salvation arrives in the South Philly sports complex for common fans and the 1%.
The Sixers and Flyers are building a $1.5 billion arena, the Phillies are a huge draw, and the Eagles are probably staying put, so the franchises want to ensure folks can get in and out without issue.
We’ve all been there, right?
You stay at the Eagles game to make sure Donovan McNabb doesn’t throw a pick-6 in the fourth quarter. You wait through the ninth inning with crossed fingers as Jose Alvarado rears back and nearly hits Pete Alonso. You stick it out at a Sixers game, hoping the Knicks don’t come back from down 20, or you sweat out the Flyers-Rangers, two goals up with the New York goalie pulled.
Then, happy with a “W” you go to your car, spend 30 minutes trying to merge into an exit line, then spend another 40 trying to get from Lot R to Pattison Avenue, make a right onto Broad Street, and, finally, merge onto 76 West.
By the end of it all the euphoria of the win has evaporated. You’re angry, exhausted, and you really gotta pee.
No more.
Marcus Hayes alerts
On Thursday, Gov. Josh Shapiro, flanked by aides and wonks and representatives from the four teams who share the South Philly sports complex, announced a $30 million initiative to help unjam traffic before and after events. There will be stoplights run by AI, new signs and walkways, and one major addition: an onramp at 7th Street for I-76 westbound where today there is none.
Shapiro spoke on a wind-swept terrace at Citizens Bank Park, vacant since the Phillies are on the West Coast. He frequently fixed his ruffled hair with the big-shouldered skyline of Philly in the background — a city that could direly use $30 million to upgrade its struggling school system, its potholed streets, and its sketchy SEPTA stations, perhaps more so than easing the commute back to suburbia by fans who have little interest in those issues.
But any infrastructure investment is good infrastructure investment, especially when $4 billion is being invested in the area by 2030. The reality is, the Sixers and Flyers are building a new $1.5 billion arena, the Phillies draw more fans than any of them, and the Eagles are probably going to stay put, so the franchises have allied to ensure that, when their $2.5 billion mixed-use business center is done, folks can get in and get out without issue.
But, generally, any investment in infrastructure is good investment in infrastructure, so, huzzah.
The first piece of the initiative involved adding a left turn lane on Front Street to access I-95 North. I used it when I left the news conference Thursday.
It worked. I turned left.
But … the billionaires!
Shapiro, who grew up in Montgomery County, told a funny story about coming to Sixers games with his dad and then anguishing about whether they would stay to the end of the game or try to beat traffic. He even brought up the curious phenomena regarding why the pretzels you buy at 10 o’clock at night from the guy with the random shopping cart in the parking lot are so wet and sweaty.
“There was always that moment in the fourth quarter where he says, ‘Maybe we need to go and beat the traffic,’ ” Shapiro said. “That’s kind of a bummer.”
Shapiro also kind of cast his dad as a lame fan. I mean, if you’re a real one, you never leave early.
Everybody feels bad for the single mom stuck in Disney on Ice traffic after bedtime with the 8-year-old twins who gotta go potty.
But … the billionaires!
What about the owners sitting in the backs of their $150,000 German luxury vehicles? Is there no pity for the plight of someone who spent the previous three hours nestled in a luxury box? Is there no sympathy for the executives who nearly spilled their drink at their courtside seat when Tyrese Maxey dived out of bounds?
Traffic jams are just as onerous for the One Percent, said Phillies owner John Middleton, who still has nightmares about leaving Veterans Stadium and the Spectrum.
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“I’ve got lots of decades of experience as a fan, and I’ve had frustrations leaving,” said Middleton. He lives in the western suburbs. “My experience in my current job really isn’t any different.”
Really?
“Look, I’m lucky. I’ve got an office. I can go up there. I have an insurmountable amount of work to do, so I can work as long as I want, and then leave when traffic dies. But I’ll be high up there in my office looking at the westbound traffic at Pattison and Broad, and it’s an hour after a game, it’s still jammed.”
The horror.
Destination without aggravation
Just joking there, John.
Players, coaches, support staff, and even owners are largely in the same boat as Joe the Plumber, except maybe Sixers/Commanders/Devils owner Josh Harris, who seems to take his helicopter everywhere he goes.
And yes, we get it. This is a first-world problem. If you’re going to spend three hundred bucks for a Sixers game — $200 on tickets, $40 to park, $60 for sustenance — then your life is not so hard that you can’t waste an hour in traffic.
Also, let’s put to rest the notion that Philly fans don’t attend games because of the traffic.
Please. Philly fans aren’t that soft. This isn’t L.A.
The reasons Philly fans do not attend games include the facts that Joel Embiid only plays half the time, Jalen Hurts won’t throw over the middle, and the Phillies haven’t had a steady cleanup hitter since Ryan Howard.
Sitting in stagnant, ill-directed traffic after a close game in Philadelphia has become as much a part of the experience as long lines at women’s bathrooms during Phillies games and $18 beers at The Linc. Philly gets it.
The governor did not assign a finish date for the upgrades, but, since it’s 2026 now, and since the $4 billion in new construction is supposed to be finished by 2030, you’d imagine the onramp and AI stoplights and the snazzy signage would be done well in advance of that.
Still, that’s years away.
Until then, no seasoned Eagles fan gets into his car after a long day of tailgating (and imbibing) without an empty Gatorade bottle.
And he’ll make sure he’s still got the cap.
