Transportation Planning For Citizens Bank Park

Orth-Rodgers & Associates, Inc. (ORA) was retained to assist in planning the transportation-related components for the 45,000-seat Citizen’s Bank Park, new home field for the Philadelphia Phillies major league baseball team.

During the site selection process, ORA projected traffic and parking demands associated with the new ballpark in a downtown location compared with the highwayoriented location of Veterans Stadium in South Philadelphia. ORA evaluated a proposed site in Center City with regard to capacity of the roadway network and existing downtown parking to support ballpark traffic. ORA also evaluated pedestrian linkages to this site and recommended a pedestrian bridge over I-676 directly from the ballpark site to better connect with the city blocks south of the expressway.

After the South Philadelphia site was selected, ORA projected arrival and departure traffic patterns based on the regional highway network and the residential distribution of fans. ORA reviewed plans for a City project to install overhead directional signs guiding motorists from the Interstate Highway interchanges to the Sports Complex and back to the highway.

ORA determined the number of ‘entry lanes’ needed to handle peak influx of fans at the parking lots, given the procedure to collect parking fee on entry. ORA provided recommendations on parking access locations, and worked with the selected parking operator to refine the access layout and the separation of VIP and general parking areas. ORA developed striping and traffic control signing plans for the parking lots, with consideration of pedestrian flows between the lots and the ballpark. ORA also designed three traffic signals at intersections of City streets and site access roadways.

Throughout the course of the project, ORA worked closely with the Project Architect and design team as well as City Department of Streets staff. ORA investigated items of concern to the neighboring residents, in particular, design of the Broad Street site access to discourage ballpark traffic from travelling through the adjacent neighborhood.