The Philly City Hall bike lane is one step closer to becoming permanent
City Councilmember Jeffery Young Jr. introduced legislation and then held his own bill.
The Philadelphia City Hall bike lane is just a mayoral signature away from being permanent after a 16-month delay, as lawmakers Thursday unanimously gave final approval to the project.
City Councilmember Jeffery Young Jr. introduced legislation in June 2025 to remove a vehicle travel lane around City Hall and replace it with a dedicated bike lane. Then he held his own bill.
PennDot built the bike lane around Penn Square anyway while crews were milling and resurfacing the roads. Painted and marked by flexible posts, the bikeway opened in December.
Yet without an ordinance, it was temporary. Cycling advocates were concerned the project could later be undone.
Then, on Oct. 5, Young brought the bill up in the Streets and Services Committee that he chairs and members passed it to the full Council — a pleasant surprise to supporters who had received no answers to their questions about the delay.
“Just for the record, I want to note that when this bill was introduced, our office wanted to look at the data to see how the infrastructure would improve safety,” said Young, who represents the 5th District, centered in North Philadelphia.
“We wanted to give road users the opportunity to get used to this type of infrastructure,” Young added.
He said he got safety information that satisfied him but did not offer details.
“This new bike lane around City Hall has closed a critical gap in our bike network and made travel safer whether on foot, by bike, or in a wheelchair,” Corinne Lagermasini, executive director of 5th Square Advocacy, said.
The urbanist group is named for the land originally called Centre Square, the fifth public space in William Penn’s 1682 street plan for Philadelphia, meant for the seat of government. Penn’s design oriented the street grid around Logan, Franklin, Washington and Rittenhouse Squares.
Lagermasini thanked Young for advancing the bike-lane legislation.
“We hope Council will move more swiftly on critical safety infrastructure in the future,” Lagermasini said.
Meanwhile, two candidates have taken steps to challenge Young, a first-term Council member, in next year’s primary election — and several more have publicly discussed running. Young won the 2023 primary after other contenders were removed from the ballot after legal challenges to their nominating petitions.
A pair of 5th District road safety bills remain stalled, including a proposed bike lane on 16th Street from Market Street to JFK Boulevard, supported in September 2025 by the Logan Square Neighborhood Association.
Another delayed project: Installation of a red-light enforcement camera at 22nd Street and the Ben Franklin Parkway, studied and recommended by the Philadelphia Parking Authority. Council requested a hold on that location, PPA said in its 2025 report on the red-light program.
Staff writer Anna Orso contributed to this article.
