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Administration, advocates urge committee to expand automated speed cameras to three additional state routes
Summary
Otis and safety advocates urged support for bill 250770 to add automated speed enforcement cameras on three state routes — Erie/Thorstendale, Allegheny, and Columbus/Delaware corridors — citing crash reductions on Roosevelt Boulevard and planned 60‑day warning periods before ticketing.
Cole Appleman, a transportation policy analyst with the Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems (Otis), told the committee bill 250770 (amending chapter 12‑3400 of the Philadelphia Code) would add automated speed enforcement (ACE) cameras to three additional state routes: Erie/Torresdale Avenue (Route 1004), Allegheny Avenue (Route 2016) and Columbus/Delaware Avenue (Route 2001). Appleman said ACE has reduced speeding violations by 95% and cut pedestrian‑involved crashes on Roosevelt Boulevard by about half since deployment there.
Appleman and other Otis staff described the selection process as based on crash and speed analyses and extensive outreach with impacted council members and community organizations; they said camera activation would include a 60‑day warning period and that program administration would continue with the Philadelphia Parking Authority and PennDOT coordination.
Committee members pressed the administration for the underlying speed‑study data used to set speed limits and camera locations. Marco Guarini, Vision Zero program manager with Otis, said specific traffic and engineering speed studies are required by state legislation and that the formal speed studies used to set speed limits are privileged and not publicly discoverable, though broader crash data and other speed datasets are publicly available. Guarini said the official study process was ongoing for the corridors and that final limits and camera justifications would follow that engineering process.
Advocates from the Bicycle Coalition, Fifth Square and other groups testified in support of the bill, citing Roosevelt Boulevard results and urging the city to press for additional corridors beyond the five allowed by state law. Several committee members asked for more transparent access to the studies or at least to have raw speed data shared with council members; Otis agreed to provide existing raw counts to members on request per the transcript. No formal vote is recorded in the provided hearing segment.
