Drivers will need a few deep breaths this week. SEPTA estimates an additional 275,000 daily vehicles on Philly roadways as a result of service cuts, which will fully take effect by week’s end.

Traffic will be moving like quicksand, right as school begins and people return from the Shore. The daily quagmire that is traffic on the Schuylkill Expressway, for example, is conservatively estimated to boost travel times by 20 percent, in turn feeding into Center City.

With SEPTA funding at a crossroads, it’s impossible to know if or when city streets will be restored to their usual capacity. But it’s long overdue for the city to find ways of lessening traffic. Just consider: The Schuylkill Expressway opened in 1960 to accommodate 35,000 drivers per day; today, it hosts 500,000 and counting.

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