Philadelphia's Schuylkill River Trail is about to get longer and connect more of the city. Here's how.
The Schuylkill River Trail is about to get longer. The group responsible for developing and maintaining the trail is in the middle of an ambitious project to extend it farther into South Philadelphia.
The project's main feature is an elaborate foot bridge over the river that will connect South Philly to Grays Ferry. The Schuylkill River Development Corporation has been designing this project for over a decade, and it will be ready by June 2025.
"We've been waiting 40 years for this to happen. We thought maybe it was going to happen, but now we're seeing something," said Joseph Syrnick, president of the SRDC.
The trail currently ends at Christian Street. But the extended trail will cross this new cable-stayed bridge and connect to the Grays Ferry Crescent over the river. The crescent is a former DuPont site renovated into a riverfront trail and park around the riverbend between Grays Ferry Avenue and 34th Street.
"Making the connection means that people in South and Southwest Philly are now connected to Center City, which is really important because that's where the theaters are, that's where schools are, and most importantly, that's where the jobs are," said Syrnick.
The total cost of the "Christian to Crescent" project is about $45 million. It's being paid for with a mix of private donations and local, state and federal grants. When CBS Philadelphia got a tour of the progress, crews were installing the last cable on the bridge.
"You're allowing people in those two outlying neighborhoods to get to Center City by foot or bicycle as fast as you could get there by trolley or by car, and mostly at little or no cost," said Syrnick.
The SRDC was also behind the boardwalk that stretches over the river from Locust to South streets. In 2021, USA Today named it one of the best riverwalks in the country.
Syrnick says his work has always been about reconnecting Philadelphians to the river.
"At one point, the city, years ago, turned its back on the riverfront," Syrnick said. "But at some point, they realized this is a great river and riverfront, and their whole thinking changed."
Other projects are in the works farther down river to fully reconnect Center City with areas in Southwest Philly, like a bridge over an old railroad crossing that would connect the Grays Ferry Crescent to Bartram's Mile. This trail connects to Bartram's Garden.
Syrnick says his goal after those projects is to widen the trail — because if you've ever been there, it can get extremely busy.