Lawmakers vote to keep speed cameras on Roosevelt Blvd, expand the program citywide

If you are a driver sick of the slowdowns caused by speed cameras along Roosevelt Boulevard in Northeast Philadelphia, don't expect to see it change any time soon.

That's because state officials have approved a bill that would eliminate the Dec. 18 expiration date for the automated speed enforcement program on the Boulevard.

On Wednesday, both the state's house of representatives and senate approved the bill which extends and expands multiple automated speed enforcement programs that were scheduled to expire.

Gov. Josh Shapiro then signed the bill into law on Thursday.

The bill expands the automated speed enforcement program "to the entire city at locations approved by city ordinance and by the state Transportation Department," according to State Rep. Ed Neilson, D-Phila., who introduced the legislation.

The bill would expand the program to five more corridors. Those locations have not yet been determined however.

The cameras were put up in 2018 as part of a five-year pilot program.

“The numbers speak for themselves; this program works by enhancing traffic safety and saving lives," Neilson said in a statement in support of the bill.

In statistics provided by Neilson's office, the automated speed enforcement program that was placed along Roosevelt Boulevard in 2020 has issued more than 220,000 speed limit violations in its first month.

In January of last year, however, the system only issued 15,000 tickets, showing the system helped cut speeding on that roadway by 93-percent, Neilson's office claimed.

Also, the bill will create a five-year pilot program to bring automated speed enforcement technology into active school zones in Philadelphia at locations that would need to be approved by city ordinance and by PennDOT.

It will also update the state's school bus stop arm camera program -- which allows school districts to install cameras on school buses to capture vehicles that illegally pass a school bus with its red lights on and stop arm extended -- by allowing improvements to the program.