In 1682, when William Penn contracted with Surveyor General Thomas Holme to lay out Philadelphia’s grid streets, there was no clue that motorized vehicles would one day traverse those thoroughfares. For the 1,200 acre plot between the Delaware and Schuykill rivers, today’s center city area, the-then numbered and lettered streets were sufficient for horse powered transportation. Nothing has changed. But with last month’s ruling by Philadelphia City Council, the ongoing problem of access along those streets has become more acute.

With unanimous vote by City Council, bill number 240657 will ban the stopping of cars and trucks in the bike lanes of Philadelphia. “Get Off The Bike Lane Bill” will remove the 2013 law that allowed for stoppage in those lanes for purposes of loading and unloading in a time frame of 20 minutes. The new law, once signed by Mayor Cherelle Parker and thus activated immediately, will increase the existing fine from $75 to $125. And it allows for no stopping. That means no access for the letting off of disabled persons and no waiver for trucks that supply goods for businesses, including the vast array of restaurants in center city as well as the neighborhoods.

The bill arose after the tragic killing of cyclist Dr. Barbara Friedes, Chief Resident at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, who was struck as she rode along a bike lane on Spruce Street in July. Seven years earlier, a woman was struck and killed by a trash truck on that same street, several blocks away.

The deaths are sad and regrettable. But instead of upending the access of automotive traffic, more warnings need to be posted for caution on the streets. Better judgement needs to be encouraged. But the radical abandonment of vehicle access is to be avoided.

The average width of a city street in Philadelphia is a mere 26.6 feet. For the east-west streets that are not the wider Market Street, that reflects a time when horses were king. By contrast, New York City’s standard (numbered) streets are 60 feet wide. That grid was established in 1811, so they must have been better able to improve upon Philadelphia’s design.

Recently, as I was about to dine at a restaurant at Rittenhouse Square, I walked along Locust Street and visualized how suppliers would be stymied as they tried to service dining establishments. It might be that they will often expect fines as costs of doing business. But if so, cyclists might be misled into thinking the lane was to be vehicle free. It’s a compounding of what is already a mess.

Philadelphia is a charming city of quaint streets that exist in an age of automotive transport. Bike usage is becoming more common, but cars and trucks are vital and will continue to be utilized. William Penn and Thomas Holme never foresaw the time in which we now live. It is imperative that we not make the constraints which we inherited more restrictive.

Jeff Hurvitz (jrhurvitz@aol.com) is a native Philadelphian and freelance writer.