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Happy Trails to You,
Philadelphia … and Beyond
Nestled amid a river, a dog park and a com-
munity garden, and flanked by a bridge
and a park, is the 135-mile Schuylkill River
Trail. To a transcendentalist, it is a dream.
To a realist, it meets all practical needs. And
to a humanitarian, it feeds the souls of oth-
ers and serves as a conduit for underserved
neighborhoods. Trail observers nationwide
agree: In 2015 the trail was named the Best
Urban Trail in America in
USA Today
’s 10
Best Readers’ Choice poll.
“Part of what I love is that it’s so many
things to so many different people,” says
Danielle Gray, director of marketing and
development for the Schuylkill River
Development Corporation, a nonprofit that
builds and maintains the trail’s tidal river
section between the Fairmount Dam and
the Delaware River.
A major component of the Circuit Trails
network, the Schuylkill River Trail has a
rich history of coal mining, transportation
and even an environmental cleanup that
began in the late 1940s and was funded
in part by money left for that purpose in
Benjamin Franklin’s will. Placards pre-
senting the history as well as important
watershed information are displayed at the
Schuylkill Banks, a venue for educational
tours and school trips.
The corridor is the region’s most heavily
used multi-use recreation and commuter
trail. It is also undergoing an expansion
to extend more than 60 miles, includ-
ing a 26-mile stretch from Philadelphia
to Phoenixville. It ultimately will reach
Reading, Pennsylvania.
The most recent addition to the
Schuylkill River Trail was the Manayunk
Bridge Trail, a crucial link between
the Manayunk Bridge, built by the
Pennsylvania Railroad in 1902, and the
Cynwyd Heritage Trail in Lower Merion.
The Manayunk section of Philadelphia
is just three blocks (uphill) from the
Manayunk Canal Towpath, near the
Schuylkill River in the Roxborough-
Manayunk area.
Chris Linn, DVRPC manager of envi-
ronmental planning, says that most people
use the trail for recreation but that the Kelly
Drive leg, south of the Manayunk Bridge in
the northeast part of the city, is used more
for commuting. Linn estimates that
this direct route into the down-
town area sees an average of
500 people a day, about 75
percent of them during
the morning commute.
“This network acts
as the spine of a non-
motorized transportation
system. As a result, the
efficacy of transportation as a
whole is improved,” Linn says.
Perhaps less known but no less
important to the Circuit Trails system is the
Merchantville Bike Path, a 0.75-mile trail in
a small town that traditionally has grown in
tandem with the growth in transportation.
The Camden County, New Jersey, town
has always been responsive to the changing
needs brought by innovation, first becom-
ing a borough in 1874 to accommodate the
advent of the railroad. It saw more growth
in 1914, when construction of the Ben
Franklin Bridge opened the area to automo-
bile traffic. Now Merchantville is propos-
ing an extension of the Merchantville trail
to give county residents access to the Ben
Franklin Bridge and Philadelphia—and to
provide Philadelphia residents with an off-
road route to Camden attractions including
Adventure Aquarium, the museum battle-
ship
USS New Jersey
and Campbell’s Field
stadium.
“When the trail is complete, it will
provide a first-class recreation and non-
motorized transportation corridor to access
many attractions not only in Camden, but
also across the river in Philadelphia,” says
Elizabeth Sewell, trail development man-
ager for RTC’s northeast region. “These
trail segments to the east and west of the
Merchantville Bike Path are vital to the
development of the Circuit Trails through
Camden and Burlington County.”
Farther south is the Camden Greenway,
a network of connected trails in Camden
County anchored by a series of trails in
Cooper River Park. A 4.3-mile section
of the Camden Greenway opened last
October. The Cooper
River Trail, which
now consists of 7.7 lin-
ear miles and 5.5 miles of
loop trails along with three municipal
and five county parks, eventually will con-
nect Cherry Hill, New Jersey, to the Ben
Franklin Bridge.
“It serves perhaps the most diverse
population, from some of the poorest areas
of the nation to some of the most afflu-
ent neighborhoods,” says Camden native
Olivia Glenn, who is the South Jersey
metro regional manager for the New Jersey
Conservation Foundation and the newly
appointed New Jersey vice chair of the
Circuit Trails Coalition.
Glenn says she is looking forward to the
transfer this year of the 25-acre Gateway
Park, in an underserved east Camden
neighborhood, from the Delaware River
Port Authority to the Camden County
Municipal Utilities Authority. The goal
is for the New Jersey Conservation
Foundation to manage and improve the
park and to provide public access via the
park to the Delaware River.
Gateway Park residents “can enjoy their
open space and love of nature without the
danger,” Glenn says.
Similarly, a waterfront park to be built
in north Camden is “all resident driven,”
says Sue Brennan, Camden native and
senior project director at Cooper’s Ferry
Partnership. The partnership is gearing up
to begin construction this spring or sum-
mer on the park, which will enhance access
to both the Circuit Trails and to waterways.
The project is slated to be completed by
January 2017.
THOM CARROLL
LAURA PEDRICK/AP IMAGES
Schuylkill Banks
Boardwalk in
Philadelphia
rails
to
trails
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