The proposed arena site is on Market Street, between 10th and 11th Streets, and would replace a third of the Fashion District mall. The arena development team has promoted the downtown location as a way to increase consumer spending and economic growth. But Michael Leeds, a professor studying economics of sports at Temple University, said that those spillover effects tend to be small.
“A lot of the spending that goes on is captured by the team, not by the city,” Leeds said. “Buying a hot dog or spending money on tickets is not going to go very far in terms of creating jobs or creating income.”
What’s the plan for pedestrian traffic control?
The development team has planned for multiple entry and exit points on all sides of the arena to help distribute foot traffic. “It's specifically based on locations of transit stations and garages and spreading that around based on where [fans are],” said Alex Kafenbaum, senior vice president and head of development of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Sixers.
Where would people park?
The development team estimates that 40% of fans will drive to the new arena – a stark drop from the now 75% who drive to the Wells Fargo Center. Their estimates assume that 40% of fans will take public transit, but Leeds of Temple University questions whether the Sixers will get “a complete reversal of behavior." Under the Sixers’ assumption of 40% of fans driving to games, roughly 3,000 cars will need parking spots. There are 15 public parking garages within a quarter-mile radius….
…and 14 more public parking garages within a half-mile radius. The 29 garages within a 10-minute walk have more than 5,600 available spots for fans who want to drive, according to the Sixers’ revised plans. People will have the option to prepay for a spot when purchasing a ticket. Mark Nicastre, a spokesperson for the Sixers on arena matters, said that the development team’s partnership with Parkway Corp. will “positively impact traffic flow for the games, so people aren't just circling for spots.”
How would traffic be impacted?
However, parking is not the only issue impacted by additional cars in Center City, Leeds said. “If you're talking about driving on local streets to [find parking], it's going to be a mess.”
Unlike the Wells Fargo Center, with easy access to highways, the new arena would be surrounded by roads with three or fewer lanes and 25 mph speed limits. A Sixers’ traffic impact study estimates four nearby intersections – the Vine Street off-ramp, Eighth and Race, 12th and Filbert, and 10th and Market – would experience long delays.
Fans commuting to games can overlap with evening rush-hour traffic when congestion is already high. For example, on Friday, Feb. 23 – when the 76ers played a home game against the Cavaliers – there was a “noticeable increase in traffic congestion” on the highways around the Wells Fargo Center between 4 and 6:30 p.m. compared to Feb. 2, a non-game Friday, according to Kyle Jackson, principal data scientist at HERE Technologies. “[There was] 491% more congestion than usual during the hours before tipoff,” Jackson said.
How would rideshare drop-offs and pickups work?
The arena is slated to have three designated rideshare zones in spots a few blocks around the arena: on 12th Street between Arch and Filbert, Chestnut Street between 10th and 11th Streets, and on Filbert Street between Eighth and Ninth Streets. This has increased from an initial two after Uber recommended another.
According to Kafenbaum, each zone is expected to hold 10 to 20 cars. Finding the space to hold that many cars and the crowds waiting for their rides in Center City’s dense corridors might be a challenge, but Kafenbaum was confident that proximity to restaurants and bars in Center City would lead people to come earlier and stay later. “That helps with the distribution of that load,” he said.
Would there be any road closures on game days?
The development team is planning to close one lane of traffic on both 10th and 11th Streets for one hour post-events. In previous plans, both lanes of traffic on 10th and 11th Streets were going to be closed with an initial analysis showing that temporarily closing those streets would reduce congestion. However, after receiving community concerns around limited access to emergency services – notably the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and the House of Dragons fire station – the development team revised their plans.
How would you get to the arena by public transit?
76 Place will sit on top of the regional rail’s Jefferson Station. It will also be close to stops on SEPTA’s L (Market-Frankford) and B (Broad Street) lines, as well as PATCO, trolley lines, and bus routes. The Sixers plan to include the cost of transit in ticket prices for season ticket holders during the first year. They hope this encourages at least 40% of fans to take public transit instead of driving. This would more than triple the percentage currently taking mass transit – about 13% – to and from the Wells Fargo Center, according to a Comcast Spectacor official.
A SEPTA media relations spokesperson said that there is sufficient capacity on their existing services to accommodate potential riders traveling to and from events at the proposed arena. However, it’s unclear how suburban fans will take to regional trains that only run hourly post-games.
The Sixers’ updated plans will be discussed at the next Civic Design Review meeting on April 2.
Councilman Mark Squilla – who represents City Council’s 1st District where the proposed site is located and has a powerful say over whether or not the arena moves forward – has reiterated that he means to take community feedback seriously and involve other Council members in the decision.