Back road to the airport (Philadelphia, Tinicum Township: rental car, home, construction)

[pookybean]

So, full disclosure....I hate highways.... serious anxiety attack when I try to drive on one. Not safe, right?

Anyway, I get along just fine a majority of the time. I find back roads and am able to get most places that I want to go in a reasonable amount of time. It may take a little longer, but we are safe and I am relaxed.

That being said....the airport is hard! A couple times I went on the road past the sports complex and over a small bridge (can't remember the name) and would park at one of the long term lots. Coming home was a challenge because if I was in the wrong lane...oops hello 95! Well they started doing construction on that bridge quite a few years ago so I stopped driving. Ive been lucky and can get a ride from a friend, uber, commuter rail or stay at the Holiday Inn Citizens Park (awesome park and fly deals) and it works out better for me than driving.

Now my mother wants to visit. Refuses to Uber or get on the train (even though i would pick her up at 30th st) because she gets nervous, wonder where I get it?????

So I need to find a new way to the airport, sans highways. Ive been googling different ideas from locations in south philly i am already comfortable with and they all want to dump me on 95 or 76 at some point, even if it is just to get right off despite choosing avoid highways. Any ideas? Please help!

ps.... I will already be in South Philly that morning around 20th and Penrose

[chessimprov]

You want to take Passyunk Ave. which becomes Essington.
Right on Bartram Ave.
Left on Gov. Printz Blvd./Industrial Hwy. and follow the signs to go to the right for the airport (they come up like immediately I believe.)

[BK_PHL_DEL]

Gmaps directions of the above route:

https://goo.gl/maps/q1YHWsgbEgG2

[pookybean]

Thank you, I saw that route yesterday and tried to follow the street view on Google maps but kept getting off track. So industrial highway is not truly a highway, or anot entrance to 76....that's where I kept ending up on Google maps....

On second thought, does that bring you up past the cell phone lot?

[discndav]

I'm on that part of Bartram Av everyday btw 9a-10a, it's not busy at all.

[MarketStEl]

By the way, if the "small bridge" you're talking about is the George C. Platt Memorial:

--Well, I wouldn't call it "small," as it has quite a vertical rise in order to allow huge ships to pass under it, and

--there are ways to get on and off of it at its southern end that don't require using I-95.

Southbound, pay attention to the signs; you want to use the Island Avenue off-ramp rather than the one marked "International Airport." Turn right on Island at the end of the ramp, then pass under 95 and turn left on Bartram Avenue at the next signal. Then follow the directions above to Industrial Highway.

Northbound, just reverse the directions. Follow the signs for "Rental Car Return / Return to Airport" as you exit the airport in order to avoid getting on 95; these will take you to a southbound road that occupies part of the right-of-way for old Penrose Avenue (PA 291; the cell phone parking lot occupies part of the former northbound lanes). IIRC, you can continue straight on this road beyond the airport return turnoff; at this point, you will be on Industrial Highway and should be able to navigate your way back to Bartram Avenue. Then turn right on Bartram, right on Island, then left at the on-ramp to PA 291 NB "to I-76". Continue up Penrose; don't turn left onto 26th Street at the north end of the bridge.

The smallest bridge over the lower Schuylkill is the drawbridge that carries Passyunk Avenue over it. The route chessimprov described above takes you across it. I hadn't heard that bridge had been reconstructed; the Platt (opened in 1951, IIRC) was closed for about two years for a total rebuild.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by pookybean

Thank you, I saw that route yesterday and tried to follow the street view on Google maps but kept getting off track. So industrial highway is not truly a highway, or anot entrance to 76....that's where I kept ending up on Google maps....

On second thought, does that bring you up past the cell phone lot?

Yes.

If you look at the map above, you will see a road labeled "Airport Recirculation Rd."

Prior to the construction of the new runway at the airport's east end (near Terminal F) that necessitated severing it, this road was the continuation of Penrose Avenue (PA 291), the street that crosses the Platt Bridge. It connected with the current bridge on- and off-ramps at the Island Avenue intersection.

The cell phone lot occupies what were once this street's northbound lanes.

Penrose Avenue in Philadelphia became Industrial Highway where it crossed into Delaware County. Remember that the airport's western end, including Terminal A West, lies in Tinicum Township.

[JacksonPanther]

Penrose and Passyunk Aves, two of the ugliest ways to enter Philadelphia from the airport. But they do accomplish your goal of avoiding highways.

[chessimprov]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

By the way, if the "small bridge" you're talking about is the George C. Platt Memorial:

. . .

--there are ways to get on and off of it at its southern end that don't require using I-95.

Southbound, . . .


Northbound, . ..


The smallest bridge over the lower Schuylkill is the drawbridge that carries Passyunk Avenue . . ..

I think the ways to get onto 291 and avoid I-95 and I-76 can be quite tricky, especially if there's a lot of traffic around. But it is good to know all your options too.

[2002 Subaru]

Originally Posted by pookybean

So, full disclosure....I hate highways.... serious anxiety attack when I try to drive on one. Not safe, right?

Anyway, I get along just fine a majority of the time. I find back roads and am able to get most places that I want to go in a reasonable amount of time. It may take a little longer, but we are safe and I am relaxed.

That being said....the airport is hard! A couple times I went on the road past the sports complex and over a small bridge (can't remember the name) and would park at one of the long term lots. Coming home was a challenge because if I was in the wrong lane...oops hello 95! Well they started doing construction on that bridge quite a few years ago so I stopped driving. Ive been lucky and can get a ride from a friend, uber, commuter rail or stay at the Holiday Inn Citizens Park (awesome park and fly deals) and it works out better for me than driving.

Now my mother wants to visit. Refuses to Uber or get on the train (even though i would pick her up at 30th st) because she gets nervous, wonder where I get it?????

So I need to find a new way to the airport, sans highways. Ive been googling different ideas from locations in south philly i am already comfortable with and they all want to dump me on 95 or 76 at some point, even if it is just to get right off despite choosing avoid highways. Any ideas? Please help!

ps.... I will already be in South Philly that morning around 20th and Penrose

Whatever you do, don't make a wrong turn and end up in Midgetville. You'll never be heard from again.