Schuylkill River Trail expansion in Philadelphia to open in mid-May
A project extending the Schuylkill River Trail in Philadelphia from Christian Street to the Grays Ferry Crescent will open in mid-May.
The Schuylkill River Development Corporation has announced it's partnering with the city to host an opening day celebration on Saturday, May 17, from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
According to the SRDC, the event will take place on the southern end of the South to Christian section near Christian Street. The organization said runners and walkers can gain early access to the new trail by participating in the Christian to Crescent Fun Run/Walk on Thursday, May 15.
The project's main feature is a footbridge over the Schuylkill River, connecting South Philly to Grays Ferry. The trail currently ends at Christian, but the extended trail will cross a cable-stayed bridge and connect it to the Grays Ferry Crescent.
The SRDC has been designing the project for over a decade. The total cost of the "Christian to Crescent" project is about $45 million and was funded with a mix of private donations and local, state and federal grants.
"We've been waiting 40 years for this to happen. We thought maybe it was going to happen, but now we're seeing something," Joseph Syrnick, president of the SRDC, told CBS News Philadelphia in October 2024.
"Making the connection means that people in South and Southwest Philly are now connected to Center City, which is really important because that's where the theaters are, that's where schools are, and most importantly, that's where the jobs are," Syrnick added. "You're allowing people in those two outlying neighborhoods to get to Center City by foot or bicycle as fast as you could get there by trolley or by car, and mostly at little or no cost."
