{"id":265746,"date":"2026-08-15T05:28:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T05:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/265746\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T05:28:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T05:28:08","slug":"philadelphia-parking-authority-to-expand-smart-loading-zones-in-center-city-citing-positive-impact-on-congestion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/265746\/","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia Parking Authority to expand ‘smart loading zones’ in Center City, citing positive impact on congestion"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — Philadelphia’s smart loading zone program<\/a> has expanded from 22 blocks to 52 blocks in Center City, according to the Philadelphia Parking Authority, which says the initiative is helping reduce double parking and improve traffic flow.<\/p>\n

Under the program, users are required to scan a QR code, download the CurbPass app and register their vehicles.<\/p>\n

A camera then monitors the amount of time a vehicle spends in the loading zone and bills the user 10 cents per minute.<\/p>\n

The smart loading zone initiative began a little more than one year ago.<\/p>\n

A map provided by the Philadelphia Parking Authority shows the locations of the 52 blocks included in the program, with the newest additions highlighted in green and existing locations in purple.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia Parking Authority Deputy Executive Director Corrine O’Connor said the program is intended to reduce double parking by giving drivers more opportunities to legally access curb space.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Rules in loading zones are changing in Center City | Here’s what you need to know<\/a><\/p>\n

“If we keep decreasing, people double parking and having that opportunity to pull at the curbside, load or unload, it’s going to make everybody’s transit a lot quicker,” O’Connor said.<\/p>\n

O’Connor said the smart loading zones have reduced double parking and increased traffic speeds on Chestnut and Walnut streets by roughly 30%.<\/p>\n

“It’s all about behavior change. We saw about 50,000 people download the application, and hopefully that keeps increasing,” O’Connor said.<\/p>\n

Of the approximately 50,000 CurbPass app<\/a> downloads, O’Connor said about 8,000 are associated with fleet accounts operated by companies such as UPS and FedEx.<\/p>\n

Several UPS drivers approached for comment said they do not use the application, but declined to be identified.<\/p>\n

Iggy Tony, however, said his company recently began using the system after he received a citation.<\/p>\n

“I didn’t even know about it. Got a ticket, 51 bucks,” Tony said.<\/p>\n

The first three minutes in the smart loading zones are free.<\/p>\n

After that, drivers could be subject to a $51 ticket.<\/p>\n

The new zones have a 30 day warning period that begins Monday.<\/p>\n

According to the Philadelphia Parking Authority, 78% of violators receive only one citation, which the agency says indicates users are adopting the technology rather than repeatedly violating the rules.<\/p>\n

For a map of smart loading zones, visit the PPA website.<\/a>
<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — Philadelphia’s smart loading zone program has expanded from 22 blocks to 52 blocks in Center…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265747,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[112179,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-265746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-112179","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}