![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/OTIS-Chinatown-Stitch-4-lawn-e1755114322351-1024x666.jpg\")
The eastern section of the planned Chinatown Stitch park over the Vine Street Expressway would have a lawn and \u201cshade structure\u201d for events. (City of Philadelphia)<\/p>\nDesigns for the Chinatown Stitch highway cap project are advancing despite the federal government\u2019s recent cancellation of most of its funding.<\/p>\n
The project would install a lush park on a new cap over the Vine Street Expressway between 10th and 12th streets, according to project renderings. It would include trees and landscaping, a lawn with a covered plaza, a playground, a small stream, a \u201cmoon gate\u201d and garden inspired by Chinese traditions, a food kiosk and restrooms, and other features.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The park \u201cwill add a tremendous amount of green space that Chinatown never imagined that it could have,\u201d and play a key role in ensuring the neighborhood\u2019s future, said John Chin, executive director of the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation, which has helped develop the project.<\/p>\n
The eastern section of the planned Chinatown Stitch park over the Vine Street Expressway would have a lawn and \u201cshade structure\u201d for events. (City of Philadelphia)<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s an opportunity for Vine Street to become the main street of Philadelphia\u2019s Chinatown, and it could really spur private business development in Chinatown North,\u201d he said, referring to the underdeveloped, former industrial area north of Vine. \u201cIf it can do that, I think Chinatown has very strong prospects for being here for a very long time.\u201d<\/p>\n
The project would cost an estimated $207 million, according to the city\u2019s Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems (OTIS). The agency presented the design at an Art Commission meeting Wednesday morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The commission gave preliminary approval to the design, which will be revised after a round of community engagement this fall.<\/p>\n
\u201cRemarkable\u201d funding, then a reversal<\/p>\n
The cap and park are meant to help \u201cstitch\u201d Chinatown back together<\/a> and partly reverse the neighborhood\u2019s evisceration by the widening of Vine Street in the 1950s and the construction of the expressway in the 1980s and \u201890s.\u00a0<\/p>\n For decades, Chinatown community leaders have aspired to cap the highway, and two recent federal grants totaling $162 million finally allowed the project to proceed, said Chris Puchalsky, OTIS\u2019 director of policy and strategic initiatives.\u00a0<\/p>\n They included a $159 million grant last year from the U.S. Department of Transportation\u2019s Reconnecting Neighborhoods and Communities Grant program. The city has already spent about $4 million on planning and engineering work from a previous grant in 2022, Puchalsky said.<\/p>\n But the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed by President Donald Trump last month effectively ended the Reconnecting Neighborhoods program and clawed back $2.4 billion<\/a> in grants nationwide. OTIS still has access to about $8 million that had already been obligated, or legally promised, for the Stitch project, but the remaining $151 million was canceled.<\/p>\n Having access to some portion of the funds means the city can continue the planning process, Puchalsky told the Art Commission.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have enough of a runway to keep this project moving. We do not have construction funding, and we don\u2019t have final design funding at this point. We\u2019re looking for it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not unusual for a project to be at this phase and not have construction funding. It was actually kind of remarkable that we had put all the funding together.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we do know is that there\u2019s a lot of political support for this project. We\u2019ve spoken to all of our federal elected officials. They\u2019re all very supportive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Green space amid urban density<\/p>\n The design provided this week shows the park extending over Vine Street expressway between 10th and 11th streets and part of the highway between 11th and 12th, leaving an open section of road next to 12th.\u00a0<\/p>\n OTIS\u2019s overall plan also calls for capping the expressway between 12th and 13th, but the agency has not offered a detailed design for that portion, describing it as a future phase.<\/p>\n On one end of the project area, there would be a small piece of landscaped highway cap on the east side of 10th Street to help block sounds and smells from the expressway, said Allison Harvey, an architect with OJB, which is working on the design for OTIS.\u00a0<\/p>\n On the west side of 10th, an existing plaza would be replaced by a stage or plaza covered by a shade structure, facing a lawn area with seating on its sides. The north side of the lawn would have an area where local vendors could set up shop. Statues currently on the site would be relocated within the park.<\/p>\n Paths would lead to the food kiosk, restrooms and a fenced playground in the middle of the block. Closer to 11th, there would be a gingko grove and \u201cflexible terraces\u201d that could be used for table games and small sports activities.<\/p>\n Across 11th, the western section of the park would be a calmer garden space, with a rounded moon gate entryway, Harvey said. It would have garden terraces, a lawn, a small winding stream, and a park office building. The site could eventually be connected with an expanded Rail Park<\/a>, north of Vine, that the Center City District would like to extend over abandoned elevated tracks.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s only about 2% of land cover in Chinatown that\u2019s actual green space, so the park serves as an amazing counter-note to the very dense urban environment,\u201d Harvey said. \u201cOn top of that, there\u2019s a great opportunity to think of the park as being a way to celebrate Chinese garden traditions, and to also think about the role of Philadelphia as the city of gardens.\u201d<\/p>\n Vine Street work begins next week<\/p>\n After construction, the park segments would continue to be divided by short stretches of 10th and 11th streets that cross Vine. OTIS is considering raising the level of the road in those areas and texturing the pavement for a traffic-calming effect, Pulchasky said.<\/p>\n There will also need to be \u201csignificant reconstruction\u201d of the retaining walls of the Vine Street Expressway so they can support the weight of the cap, he said.<\/p>\n PennDOT is separately preparing to install a \u201croad diet\u201d on Vine Street between 8th and Broad streets, with fewer auto lanes, a new separated bike lane on the eastbound side, curb bumpouts to shorten pedestrian crossings, new signals and other features. Work on that $8.5 million project is scheduled to start next week<\/a>.<\/p>\n OTIS conducted a round of public engagement on the Stitch design earlier this year<\/a>, and will do another this fall to take input on potential tweaks. The project team expects to complete the preliminary engineering design, setting the project\u2019s scope and schedule, early next year before moving into the final design phase.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/OTIS-Chinatown-Stitch-1-full-e1755115184324-1024x471.jpg\")
A park influenced by Chinese garden traditions would cover a cap proposed for the Vine Street Expressway between 10th and 12th streets. (City of Philadelphia)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/OTIS-Chinatown-Stitch-2-map-e1755114533379-1024x467.jpg\")
If funded, the Chinatown Stitch project would cap most of the Vine Street Expressway between 10th and 13th streets. (City of Philadelphia)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/OTIS-Chinatown-Stitch-5-moon-gate-e1755114256254-1024x654.jpg\")
The western section of the planned Chinatown Stitch park over the Vine Street Expressway would include a \u201cmoon gate\u201d entryway. (City of Philadelphia)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/OTIS-Chinatown-Stitch-3-over-render-e1755114422731-1024x669.jpg\")
A park is planned for the Chinatown Stitch cap over the Vine Street Expressway. (City of Philadelphia)<\/p>\n