Every weekday morning, Lombard Street in Fitler Square takes the spillover from I-76 and turns it into a neighborhood hazard. Drivers who have been moving at highway speed wind up on a one-way block where residents step off their stoops while traffic is still slowing down.
That is the daily rhythm on a street that carries a wave of commuters through Center City, and it helps explain why pedestrian safety in Philadelphia is still a live issue today. The city recorded 125 traffic deaths in 2024, according to the Vision Zero Annual Report 2024, and the broader pattern is just as stark: just 12% of Philadelphia streets account for 80% of all traffic deaths and serious injuries, according to the Vision Zero Action Plan 2030.
Lombard’s walk signals do little to calm that risk. The crossing phase is short, and it often ends before slower walkers have reached the far curb. That matters on a block where parked cars on both sides and tightly spaced rowhomes shrink sightlines at the corners. When traffic stacks up on the expressways, vehicles funnel onto Lombard within a few blocks, and the street takes on the speed and pressure of a larger road while still looking like a neighborhood block.
The same mix shows up on nearby Naudain and Waverly, which were built as alleys for trash pickup and back-door deliveries. Today, rideshare drivers waiting on fares from South Street bars and cafes often idle there instead. The street grid was not built for the volume or behavior it now absorbs, and that mismatch leaves pedestrians exposed at the exact places where they expect to be safest: at curb edges, crosswalks and corners close to home.
The numbers show the scale of the danger beyond Philadelphia. According to the NHTSA, 7,314 pedestrians were killed in U.S. traffic crashes in 2023, and pedestrians made up 18% of all traffic deaths that year. In that national context, the risk on a single commuter street in Fitler Square is not an isolated problem. It is a local expression of a pattern that keeps hitting people on foot first and hardest.
Crashes on a street like Lombard can also become legally complicated fast. More than one party can share fault on a commuter street in Fitler Square. PennDOT may share fault near the I-76 surface ramp. SEPTA may share fault if a bus was involved. The City of Philadelphia owns the local street surface. For anyone seeking an accident attorney after a crash there, that layered responsibility is part of the case from the start, not something discovered later.
That is why Lombard matters today. It is not just a shortcut from the expressway into Center City. It is a street where the city’s traffic death numbers, its short signal timing and its older street design all meet the same person at the same curb.
