In the late fifties, the city was planning to build the Pulaski Expressway from the Betsy Ross Bridge to Roosevelt Boulevard. Someone on Wikimapia actually mapped out it’s path. Awesome idea, except if you lived on Deal Street. That’s because the city was going to eminent domain your house so the highway could go there. Neighborhood backlash(presumably from Frankfordites) stopped the project, but not until years of debate took place. And in that kind of situation you really don’t want the fate of your house up in the air for a couple decades. You can’t sell it because no one wants to buy a house that’s going to be seized. And you can’t move because the city hasn’t given you any money for taking it yet. So what do you do? You let your house rot. See those houses down the street next to that first car? They’re wrapped in a metal chain mail that I’m guessing is keeping them from falling over and spilling in into the streets. So what’s going to save Deal Street? It’s the Frankford Greenway Project. Here’s the nitty gritty.
