Delaware+Expressway--Effects+on+Waterfront

=Introduction=

The landscape of Philadelphia today is incomplete without the jarring concrete ribbon along its eastern waterfront that is the Delaware Expressway. This section of 6-8 lane highway is part of a much larger interstate network known as I-95 which stretches from Maine down to Florida along the eastern seaboard. It connects Northern America’s megalopolis comprised of New York, Philadelphia, Wilmington, Baltimore, and Washington D.C. which makes up the most densely populated area of the United States.

The Delaware Expressway was proposed in a time of relative industrial prosperity for Philadelphia; however its construction was marked by repeated delays and budget shortages, and by the time it was fully complete, the economic winds had shifted. Not only had they shifted economically but also the societal geography of the city had changed during this period of construction, and later as a result of the presence of the road itself. Areas which were once occupied by the industrial factory worker had been rehabilitated and transformed into the wealthier neighborhoods of the Philadelphia business-person. At the conclusion of the construction effort, these areas, specifically in central Philadelphia, were cut off from the Delaware riverfront. This waterfront area is only now beginning to realize its potential as site for recreation, luxury living accommodations, and tourism after a quarter-century long development period. The socio-economic effects of this roadway are only now being realized with the benefit of hindsight and are not fully compatible with the apparently intended goals of the roadway.

Contents
1. Late 19th Century Philadelphia 2. 20th Century Philadelphia 3. The Delaware Expressway
 * 1.1 Industrial Growth
 * 1.2 Population Centers
 * 2.1 World War II and a Return to Manufacturing
 * 2.2 Transportation
 * 2.3 The Cold War and the Federal Highway Administration
 * 3.1 History of Construction
 * 3.2 Effects on Population and Industry
 * 3.3 The new face of center-city Philadelphia
 * 3.4 Ongoing debate and future plans

=Late 19th Century Philadelphia=

In order to develop historical hindsight, one must first have historical context. The Delaware Expressway was built for pragmatic reasons to address issues of transportation through Philadelphia. The causes and effects of this reach beyond the scope of less traffic and shorter driving times, and changed the way the entire region developed from the 1950’s onward. A primary motivation cited for its construction was to connect the vast industrial area that stretches from Trenton, NJ all the way down to Wilmington, DE which had seeds in the industrial revolution era Philadelphia.

Industrial Growth
Philadelphia sits at the convergence of the Schuylkill River with the Delaware River which eventually opens up into the Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. It has always been one of the largest freshwater ports in America. During the late 19th century, this was no less true. Pennsylvania at that time was a tremendous oil, coal and steel producing state. However, most of these raw materials were extracted from the land in the central and western parts of the state. Philadelphia was an excellent distribution point with access to the Atlantic Ocean for shipping up and down the coast as well as to foreign markets, but these goods still needed transportation to Philadelphia. This need was met by the railroad companies. One in particular, Pennsylvania Railroad, became the largest corporation at that time. It along with the Reading Railroad helped to link the states resource rich interior with the city of Philadelphia.

The city then became a manufacturing center in addition to a significant distribution point. In those days steam energy prevailed and this could be readily seen in the characteristically large manufacturing plants along the river. There was William Cramp and Sons Ship and Engine Builders (5) which took up over 50 acres along the Delaware in the Kensington section of the city. Also Baldwin Locomotive Works (5) who built three times more steam locomotives than any single other manufacturer at that time. There were extensive textile industries which made Philadelphia a textile Mecca in America, as well as steel and coal processing. These all contributed to create a very diverse economy in late 19th century Philadelphia that enabled it to survive several periods of national and global economic strife towards the end of the century.

Population Centers
With several different types of industry spread throughout the city, Philadelphia developed many different neighborhoods. These neighborhoods had closely guarded identities that their communities upheld with pride. This made for a very even population spread across the city. This was due in part to the lack of easy transportation throughout the city and the desire to live near employment. Later in the 19th century, horse drawn trolleys, later electric trolleys, and the Main Line railroad seemed to make an attempt to reshape the cityscape.

The Main Line facilitated a move westward of the city’s elite. Specifically, management and upper level employees of the Pennsylvania Railroad were moved out along the new railway into the suburbs. They even went so far as to rename them how they liked to promote an upper class suburban society. With the complete diversification of industry and the economy’s focus on innovation, industry, and the sciences, a large middle class formed and many began to cluster even more so in their communities even when they worked elsewhere. Population within the city limits in fact increased 50% from 1880 to 1900. The strategy on the Pennsylvania Railroad’s part worked in elevating socioeconomic demograph living along the main line suburbs, but only served to sow the seeds for further population withdraw from the urban center which wouldn’t begin to occur until much later in the 20th century.

= = =20th Century Philadelphia=

World War II and a Return to Manufacturing
Philadelphia experienced the same severe economic plight that many cities world-wide felt during the 1930’s. It was during this time that the city became developed unionized labor as part of the New Deal initiative, as well as when the infamous wage tax was enacted in order to prevent the city from defaulting and going bankrupt. World War II brought a welcome relief as it did for many US cities as it provided a demand for the sprawling and at that time unused industrial complexes that fueled the cities growth in the 19th century. For example, the large Baldwin Locomotive Works, which at that time was barely a shadow of its younger self due to no demand for its monumental manufacturing capacity, found a place building tanks for the war effort years before America even got militarily involved.

This was not unique to the former steam-specialized manufacturing plants and took hold of the entire city’s industries which had been running at less than full capacity during the depression. Other companies known for their industry in other field rededicated their efforts towards fulfilling their patriotic duty and contributing to the war effort, with great profit. Textile mills were cranking out uniforms, former trolley manufacturers were building gun carriages, and even the University of Pennsylvania aided the effort in the creation of the world’s first recognized electronic computer.

Transportation
Once again, the movement of these products became a major concern. Now with the invention of the automobile and its huge popularity as a transportation solution, desire developed to increase Philadelphia’s linkage with other cities. The first primary north-south highway to run along the eastern seaboard was Route 1. This was based mostly off of the existing Atlantic Highway which was originally a privately build “automotive trail” that ran along the fall line along the east coast. This was an important feature in that the fall line was the furthest point upstream that shipping could travel before it encountered rapids or waterfalls. Many cities and towns developed at this point as distribution points for shipping, so linking them all up with a single road was quite desirable.

In Philadelphia, US 1 ran around the southern part of the city and cut through the northern part along Roosevelt Blvd. This helped to open up that area to increased manufacturing and industry; however it largely ignored the industrial complex along the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers. Railroad was left as the only major transportation solution along the waterfront, but the allure of the automobile was great with its promise of increased flexibility over the railroad companies. This provided a major motivating factor for the construction of the Delaware Expressway.

The Cold War and the Federal Highway Administration
The close of World War II saw the development and world revelation of atomic power. This threw the major superpowers of the time into a tense standoff characterized by heightened paranoia, astronomical military spending, and puppet wars fought in foreign 3rd world countries. The paranoia of the time and desire for strong national defense caused many programs to be developed under ulterior apparent motives. The Federal Highway Administration was one of these.

The FHA was officially developed in 1966; however had many predecessor organizations all fulfilling the same function more or less, just with different sources of funding and oversight. During the cold war, they developed the Interstate system to facilitate quick and efficient movement around the country. This was motivated in part by public benefit, but also in part as a strategic asset. This led to the development of Interstate-95 which was to replace route 1 as the major north-south roadway. It was to connect all of the major cities along the coast, and provided further motivation and justification for the completion of the Delaware Expressway. Despite it being developed after the expressway had already been planned, it ended up providing federal funds for 90% of the Delaware Expressway’s construction costs.

=The Delaware Expressway=

History of Construction
Construction of the expressway began 1959 and was completed in 1985, however original plans for the road extended as far back as 1937, meaning that the original motivations for building the road were developed in a very different environment than when the road was finally finished. In 1945 the plans from 1937 were reexamined and the Philadelphia City Planning Commission issued the following statement:

“The great industrial area that runs from the Trenton area south to the Wilmington area is clustered largely along the banks of the Delaware River. The critical need of the area is a north-south express highway, running close to the Delaware River, which will link together this great industrial complex.” (3)

Construction commenced simultaneously in Delaware County and in Northeastern Philadelphia extending into Bucks County and proceeded towards the city center. The road through center city along the former Delaware Ave. (later Columbus Blvd) was completed through the late 1970’s. The entire project was plagued by delays and was egregiously over budget with the center city portions of the road costing as much as $17 million per mile.(3) The final leg was completed near Philadelphia International Airport in 1985 yet development at the airport interchange has continued as the airport expands and builds new terminals.

Effects on Population and Industry
In 1940, the population was almost 2,000,000, and in the next 40 years, the population had dropped by 25%. (Census Bureau) This was in part due to the development off the “American Dream”- the idea of a nice house in the suburbs with a white picket fence which was facilitated by easy access to your place of employment. The Delaware Expressway along with an extensive trolley network in West Philadelphia facilitated this.

Another issue that facilitated this emigration to the suburbs was the decline of industry within the city. In 1945, the city was still experiencing a manufacturing and industrial boom stimulated by the war-time spending, however this was not enough to alleviate trends started in previous decades. Coal was always a staple industry of vast areas of Philadelphia’s port landscape, especially up in Port Richmond where the Reading Railroad transported coal to be processed and shipped out. After WW II, coal was being dropped as America’s primary energy source with the glamour of nuclear energy and all of the hydroelectric systems built out of the New Deal programs of the Great Depression. Industry was already being pushed to the outskirts of Philadelphia by the time the expressway had reached center city.

Prior to the building of the expressway, there were few efficient ways to travel to the relatively rural areas outside the city so these remained undeveloped, especially when much of Philadelphia industry was centralized under the power of the railroad companies. With the dawn of the automobile and specifically the construction of the expressway, the railways declined and industry became decentralized. Large areas of cheap land that were previously inconvenient were now very accessible due to the expressway and the flexibility that automobile based shipping offered. Here was the decline of the large scale mass-manufactured industrial centers, and the dawn of the smaller specialized industries geographically independent of one another, quite contrary to the original intent of the designers of the Delaware Expressway.

The New Face of Center City Philadelphia
With the decentralization of Philadelphia’s industry and the efficient connectivity that the expressway offered, the face of the neighborhoods changed. Previously, entire communities developed in places like Kensington, Nicetown, Port Richmond, Gray’s Ferry, and the like to support the industries there. Now that much of the industry had been downsized or moved out entirely, the workforce was reduced. These areas became open for inhabitation from lower economic classes as the workers that were left tended to move to the suburbs where they could enjoy a greater quality of life. The opposite happened in areas of center-city Philadelphia where the neighborhoods were seen as highly desirable places to live with great proximity to the city’s cultural and business center and property values here soared while poverty crept across once thriving ethnic and working-class communities.

Central to this development was the potential that the waterfront offered for aesthetic urban living. The expressway unfortunately delayed much of this by cutting the old-city areas off from the water completely. Plans were developed and Penn’s Landing, an area of parks and memorials, was built on platforms overtop of the express way and along the water, but these were limited and most of the waterfront remained relatively inaccessible except by Columbus Blvd. which itself is a 6 lane major roadway. Tourism is a major source of city income since Philadelphia is generally considered the birthplace of America, being the seat of Revolutionary activity and the first Continental Congress. Creating other aesthetically pleasing and desirable areas like what the waterfront could have become is essential in diversifying that economy and ensuring its survival and a great opportunity was made much more difficult to utilize by severing the waterfront from the city.

Ongoing Debate and Future Plans
Since the bi-centennial in 1976, a lot of effort has been placed into making the city a more attractive travel destination. This has included extensive development of the Penn’s Landing area including multiple museums, restaurants, outdoor amphitheaters, and even a skating rink. The expressway still sits like a wall between old-city and these places making access limited and preventing a more pedestrian friendly concourse which many would consider optimal. Efforts have been expended, and plans have been developed to change the way that the expressway interacts with the city. It enables quick and easy access to the city, at the same time depriving it of an area of tremendous potential development. These plans include capping further sections of the highway and even submerging both the Delaware Expressway and Columbus Blvd. but no action has been taken at this point.

Bibliography (1) Blanchard, Matt. "I-95: Where do we go now?" Plan Philly. 22 Jan. 2009 . (2) __ Census Bureau Home Page __. 22 Jan. 2009 . (3) "Delaware Expressway (I-95)." __Philadelphia Area Roads, Crossings and Exits__. 22 Jan. 2009 . (4) Miller, Fredric M., Morris J. Vogel, and Allen F. Davis. __Philadelphia Stories: A Photographic History 1920-1960__. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 1988. (5) Weigley, Russell F. __Philadelphia : A Three Hundred Year History__. Boston: W. W. Norton & Company, Incorporated, 1982.