Broad Street drivers, prepare to slow down.
Starting Monday, the city will activate new speed cameras at 15 spots along the road and start mailing written warnings to drivers caught exceeding post limits.
After a 60-day grace period, violators will begin receiving tickets, with fines that can reach up to $150 per incident.
The goal is to bring down the number of traffic deaths in the city, by expanding a program that has previously succeeded in slowing down cars and reduces crashes on Roosevelt Boulevard.
“We know Broad Street is clearly one of the city’s busiest roads, and … one of the most dangerous roads, and unfortunately, the data has shown that it’s gotten worse. Over the last five years, 64 people have died in crashes on Broad Street,” Mayor Cherelle Parker said at an event outside City Hall Wednesday, steps away from the cacophony of North Broad. “That data is totally unacceptable to me.”
“This is a milestone that we’re marking today, continuing to collaborate on preventing car crashes, injuries and deaths from happening on our streets,” she said.
The Philadelphia Parking Authority installed cameras at intersections stretching from Old York Road, near the Montgomery County border, to League Island Boulevard, near the Navy Yard in South Philadelphia.
The speed limit along most of Broad Street is 25 mph. Drivers traveling at least 11 mph over the posted limit risk getting tickets.
The initiative is set to expand further soon, thanks to state legislation allowing speed cameras on five traffic corridors and in five school zones.
Next spring, the PPA plans to start installing cameras along Route 13, which includes parts of Baltimore, Girard, and Hunting Park avenues and several other streets. Council passed a measure in April approving seven potential school zones for cameras.
On Thursday, Parker will send a bill to City Council that would authorize cameras in three other areas, she said. She did not name them, but city planners have identified priority corridors on Allegheny Avenue; Erie/Torresdale avenues; and a route extending along Columbus Boulevard, Delaware Avenue and Moyamensing Avenue.
Limiting fatalities
The cameras are part of the city’s Vision Zero program, which aims to eliminate traffic deaths through various traffic-calming and pedestrian and bicycling safety measures.
The state legislature first authorized an automated speed camera pilot on Roosevelt Boulevard in 2018, which helped reduced crashes and fatalities, according to a study published last year. Now, North Broad has begun to overtake the Boulevard as the city’s most dangerous road, officials said.
“Because of the effect that the cameras had on the Boulevard, we had a 95% drop in speeding, over a 30% drop in crashes, and we’re going to hope to have that same effect here,” PPA executive director Rich Lazer said.
The decrease in crashes was observed on sections of Roosevelt Boulevard with cameras from 2018 to 2022, even as they increased slightly on similar roads, according to the study by University of Pennsylvania researchers.
While traffic fatalities soared across the city during that period, due in part to pandemic-related changes in driving behavior, on Roosevelt Boulevard they fell 3%, the study found.
Philadelphia as a whole continues to see a high rate of traffic deaths compared to before the pandemic, but the number appears to be declining. Sixty-five people have died in traffic crashes so far in 2025, with at least five deaths on or near Broad Street, according to city data. In 2024, there were 134 deaths, including 83 by this date last year.
Two years ago state legislators approved a bill making the Boulevard cameras permanent and providing for the cameras in additional locations.
Camera friendly
City officials and councilmembers at the launch event Wednesday acknowledged some criticism of speed cameras and concerns in the surrounding neighborhoods, and repeatedly cited the findings of the Roosevelt Boulevard study to defend the program.
“I guarantee you, someone, somewhere, somehow, is going to say that it won’t matter, that it won’t make a difference,” Parker told those attending the event on the north apron of City Hall. “I just want you to be able to very calmly and succinctly give them the facts.”
Some opponents have argued that cameras are punitive and regressive, creating profit-driven “speed traps” that arbitrarily increase the cost of driving.
Councilmember Jeffery Young, who has expressed doubts about putting speed cameras in school zones, noted that many of the new North Broad cameras are in his 5th councilmanic district.
“Some of these communities where these cameras are placed are some of the most challenged and impoverished communities in our city. So we don’t want the residents to look at this as a tax on you,” said Young, who chairs council’s Committee on Streets and Services. “But we need you to understand that this is just a safety measure to [ensure] that all residents in the city of Philadelphia can live and live freely.”
The committee will examine camera data during the 60-day grace period to see where speeders are being detected and to make sure the law is “fair and equitable for all communities,” he said.
“These can be some issues that communities may not understand at first. But with all change come some growing pains,” he said.
Staffers at the Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems (OTIS) noted that the Streets Department has been making changes on Broad over the past year to prepare for the activation of the camera system.
PennDOT required a study of the speed limits along Broad, which led the city to lower the limit from 30 mph in parts of North Philly last year and make it a uniform 25 mph along most of the road. That gave drivers some time to get used to the lower speed, they said. The only remaining exception is a stretch near the South Philadelphia stadium complex where it is 35 mph, Parker said.
The city also fabricated and installed 100 new speed limit signs along Broad Street’s 13-mile length, along with pavement markings indicating the limit.
Some of the ticket revenue goes to the PPA for operating expenses, including for staff to review footage before citations are issued, but most goes to PennDOT. Those funds are distributed to cities and towns for other traffic safety projects, with priority for the municipalities where cameras are located.
The cameras are at the following intersections:
- 7000 Old York Road
- 6500 N. Broad Street
- 5700 N. Broad Street
- 4900 N. Broad Street
- 4100 N. Broad Street
- 3300 N. Broad Street
- 2500 N. Broad Street
- 1700 N. Broad Street
- 800 N. Broad Street
- 100 N. Broad Street
- 100 S. Broad Street
- 1200 S. Broad Street
- 2200 S. Broad Street
- 2800 S. Broad Street
- 3600 S. Broad Street
PlanPhilly reporter Aaron Moselle contributed to this article.
