In the 1970s, the stretch of City Avenue located just west of the Interstate 76 interchange was known as the Golden Mile for Lower Merion's gleaming collection of corporate headquarters, which were drawn there by its low tax rate and easy access to Philadelphia. But the luster has dulled. Decline has set in. And it's visibly worse on the suburban side.
Philadelphia and Lower Merion have been jointly trying to right the situation, working through the regional authority of the City Ave Special Services District, to rezone the road. Philadelphia has already adopted changes aimed at nudging City Avenue in a more urban direction, with wider sidewalks, fewer parking lots, and more-welcoming facades. Now it's Lower Merion's turn.
The goal is nothing less than the reengineering of an auto-dependent commercial strip into a walkable, urbane street of apartments, offices, and shops. While there are thousands of strips like City Avenue riddling the American landscape, surprisingly few have been reincarnated as true city boulevards. It's not clear that such an ambitious transformation is possible. But if it is, City Avenue is a perfect candidate.
City Avenue differs from the typical highway strip in that it has many qualities we associate with urban places, including distinctive and relatively dense neighborhoods on both sides. There may be fewer pedestrians on the suburban edge of City Avenue - where multistory apartment houses are currently prohibited - but a culture of walking and commuting definitely exists. About 25,000 people work in the area between the expressway and East Wynnewood Road, and probably 40,000 more live within a 10-minute stroll.
Always found City Ave. a fascinating place--an edge condition with a lot of unrealized potential.
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