The Federal Highway Administration recently awarded the City of Philadelphia Department of Streets and Schuylkill River Development Corp. (SRDC) a $13.7 million Active Transportation Infrastructure Investment Program grant.
Funding will be used for two extensions on the Schuylkill River Trail (SRT).
The SRT is part of The Circuit Trails, Greater Philadelphia’s transportation network of more than 400 miles. It will consist of more than 800 miles by 2050, connecting five Pennsylvania counties.
The 16.8 mile stretch of the SRT within Philadelphia has several gaps and incomplete sections. Funding will close the gaps by constructing the Wissahickon Gateway Trail in Manayunk and building the Passyunk Connection adjacent to historically disadvantaged communities in the Southwest Philadelphia. This will complete a 39-mile trail between Pottstown in Montgomery County and Southwest Philadelphia with exception of a 0.65-mile on-road connection.
The Wissahickon Gateway Trail will be a 2,000-foot, off-road, multi-use trail and bicycle-pedestrian bridge. It will allow users to bypass a corridor of Main Street and Ridge Avenue in Northwest Philadelphia, an area with a crash rate four times higher than the city’s average.
The Passyunk Connection will extend the SRT approximately 4,500 feet south along the Schuylkill riverbank from the trail segment’s current dead end.