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Individuals who were part of the coalition’s
early years credit the grant not only with
creating a new era of regional trail develop-
ment, but also with serving as a catalyst for
additional funding. That funding includes a
$10 million grant awarded later in 2010 by
the William Penn Foundation—which to
date has contributed more than $25 million
to the project.
“The [TIGER] grant made trails really
relevant as green transportation infrastruc-
ture,” says Sarah Clark Stuart, chair of
the coalition and executive director of the
Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia.
“It catapulted trails to the forefront and
resulted in a cascade of trail development.”
“For the very first time, a number of
advocates and officials came together, real-
izing that by standing together we could do
better,” says Pennsylvania Environmental
Council Executive Vice President Patrick
Starr, who also serves as Pennsylvania
vice chair of the Circuit Trails Coalition.
“Attaining that grant lit a fire under the
process. This unlocked the William Penn
funding.”
Just last June, the Delaware Valley
Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC)
voted unanimously to support dedication
of federal and private dollars to 11 Circuit
Trails segments in Pennsylvania by approv-
ing a new “line item” for the Pennsylvania
Transportation Improvement Program that
designates $5 million in federal transporta-
tion dollars for trails construction.
The coalition also has attracted the
attention of local officials, including mayors
of both of the anchoring cities within the
Circuit Trails: newly elected Philadelphia
Mayor Jim Kenney and Camden Mayor
Dana Redd.
In his inauguration speech this January,
Kenney urged his audience to “make every
Philadelphia neighborhood the best it can
be.” He added, “For the one in four people
in this city living in poverty, an effective
public transportation system can make the
difference of whether or not they can afford
to go to a job interview.”
Similarly, in Camden, Joseph Meyers,
chief operating officer for the nonprofit
Cooper’s Ferry Partnership, says, “Mayor
Redd is leading the transformation in
Camden, and her administration has facili-
tated the collaboration in our community.”
Residents have made the Circuit Trails
their own. That includes Jonathan DeHart,
a 56-year-old air quality specialist for the
U.S. Navy who—for seven years—rode
his bike 20 miles each way from his home
in Glenside to his workplace at the for-
mer Navy base in the Pennsport section of
southeast Philadelphia, taking advantage
of the Schuylkill River Trail along the way.
(
Schuylkill
is a Dutch word for “hidden or
skulking creek.”)
“Those rides helped me clear my head.
I really looked forward to the ride to work,
breathing in the fresh air and interacting
with others. I also really looked forward to
the ride home. Not sure driving commut-
ers would have the same sentiment,” says
DeHart, who still bikes along the trails,
now mainly for recreation, and sometimes
logs 60 miles or more in outings with his
son.
DeHart is not unlike many trail users in
the area. According to the DVRPC 2012–
2013 Household Travel Survey, 3.8 percent
of Philadelphians reported using a bicycle
as their primary means of transportation to
work—nearly double the number for bicy-
cle commuting nationwide recorded in an
American Community Survey released in
2014. Philadelphia remains the most-biked
city among those with a population of at
least 1 million. The DVRPC survey also
revealed that 27 percent of the bicycle trips
were made by those in households with
incomes of less than $35,000—suggest-
ing the potential importance of the Circuit
Trails for underserved communities.
LAURA PEDRICK/AP IMAGES
LAURA PEDRICK/AP IMAGES
Schuylkill Banks trail in
Philadelphia
rails
to
trails
u
spring/summer.16
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