One day you will be able to paddle down the Delaware to the Frankford Arsenal, take your boat out and bike down to Center City Philadelphia. Sure, it will take a little bit of coordination to get your bike at the landing site, but it will be possible because the Delaware River Trail will follow the river from the very north to the very south of Philadephia. On December 8th, that day will be a little bit closer!
The Streets Department will be completing their work on the extension project in the next week or so and do a ‘soft’ opening of the roadway to traffic. The Delaware River City Corporation has been working with Streets for a ribbon cutting to acknowledge both the new road and the trail extension that was built next to the road. The project was originally funded through a federal transportation earmark of $3.5 million by then Congressman Bob Borski in the late 1990s. Over 15 years later, it’s complete, albeit at a much higher cost.
Mayor Nutter confirmed to lead the dedication on Tuesday, December 8th at 11 a.m. in Bridesburg. An exact location has yet to be determined.
Additional Information on the Roadway and Greenway:
The Delaware Avenue Extension is a new road and trail project built along the Delaware Riverfront Greenway in Northeast Philadelphia. The roadway is managed by the Streets Department and the greenway is being developed by the Delaware River City Corporation; a nonprofit organized by former Congressman Robert A. Borski, and charged with connecting the adjacent communities to the Delaware River. The trail is also a part of the East Coast Greenway, a 3000-mile long multi-use trail that runs from Maine to Florida.
The federally funded project was designed by Urban Engineers, Inc. and Buckley Company, Inc. is performing the construction, which started in March 2014 and completed in November 2015.
This project constructed a 1-mile section of roadway, a bridge over the Frankford Creek and an extension of a multi-use trail extending from Lewis Street to Orthodox Street. It connects Port Richmond to Bridesburg and will provide a direct route to the industries situated north of Lewis Street relieving the Bridesburg community from large truck traffic on their neighborhood streets.
The bridge crossing the Frankford Creek is 160′ in length. It is a single span, welded plate girder bridge. The 30′-wide road will have a 6′-wide sidewalk on one side and a 10′-12′-wide multiuse asphalt trail on the other. Significant landscaping and new street lights are also a part of the project.
The finished project will provide much needed relief from neighborhood truck traffic in Bridesburg and will extend the 1.5-mile trail in Port Richmond to Orthodox Street, directly connecting both neighborhoods and begin to close a gap in the riverfront trail system.