Nearly $14 million in federal funds will help build two key Schuylkill River Trail extensions, connecting to Manayunk and Passyunk Avenue, writes Frank Kummer for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The proposed Wissahickon Gateway would give walkers, runners, and cyclists a safer route around the busy roads of Ridge Avenue and Main Street in Manayunk. Meanwhile, the proposed Passyunk Connection would extend from Grays Ferry Avenue to Passyunk Avenue, west of the river.
Both projects are funded with a $13.7 million federal grant from the Biden administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. They are expected to take several years before the are fully completed.
The Wissahickon Gateway Trail, funded with around $7.2 million, will create a new 2,000-foot multiuse trail and bicycle-pedestrian bridge. The Passyunk Connection, the recipient of approximately $6.5 million, will extend the Schuylkill River Trail by 4,500 feet south along the Schuylkill riverbank, through a commercial and industrial area.
“This will allow us to extend the existing Schuylkill River Trail in Southwest Philadelphia, which is now a dead-end trail,” said Joseph Syrnick, president of the nonprofit Schuylkill River Development Corp. “This will take that dead-end trail and turn it into a trail that actually connects with a major street.”
Read more about the proposed extensions for the Schuylkill River Trail in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
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Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on PHILADELPHIA Today in February 2025.
