Philly To Acquire Conrail Swing Bridge, Extend Schuylkill Trail

PHILADELPHIA – Trail-users rejoice: the Schuylkill River Trail is getting even longer, and will now progress over a bridge and into southwest Philadelphia.

After months of talks, the city announced Tuesday that they acquired a swing bridge owned by Conrail to extend the trail.

The city said a full announcement of the deal will be made at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 1 at Schuylkill Banks park.

Officials including Mayor Jim Kenney, Michael DiBerardinis, Managing Director of the City of Philadelphia; John Grady, President, PIDC; Jonathan Broder, VP Corporate Development & Chief Legal Officer, Conrail and more will be on hand.

The historic bridge will be renamed Conrail Crossing.

The approaches on each side, and the bridge in its entirety, will be repurposed into a functional, biking and pedestrian crossing that will connect the Grays Ferry Crescent Trail to the Bartram’s Mile section of the Schuylkill River Trail system.

Detailed design work is already underway, with construction projected to begin in 2018.

The feasibility study for the project was funded by the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission and Pennsylvania Department of Conservation of Natural Resources, and was completed by Amman & Whitney.

Construction funding was provided by the Commonwealth of PA, the City of Philadelphia, and the Transportation Improvements Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program funded by the Federal Highway Administration.

Image via Google