Last summer, work began on the construction of a 680-foot connector bridge between Schuylkill River Park and the Schuylkill River Trail. Construction of this bridge was necessary to resolve a law suit between the City of Philadelphia and CSX, the company that owns the rail line that separates much of Center City West from direct access to the river. As a side effect of this $6M project that was funded mostly by federal stimulus money, the Friends of Schuylkill River Park were to receive several improvements to their park, including new landscaping, and stellar new dog parks. For about a year and a half, neighbors have had to make do with their park being an active construction site. But no longer!

Site plan of the park

Over the weekend, the new connector bridge was officially dedicated at a ribbon…

We’ve been covering a lot of what’s going on in Locust Square with the River Trail Path and other developments with pedestrian traffic in Schuylkill River Park, so we thought we’d let our readers know of another big project in this file. The non-profit Community Design Collaborative is working for the Friends of Schuylkill River Park on gateway improvements for the park at Taney and Pine Streets. The FSRP have begun developing the new vision for the gateway to this park, to “potentially transform the park into an archetype of a living, didactic landscape,” according to the FSRP. The project will concentrate on the “front parlor” entry and the larger, paved gathering area referred to as “the living room” to solve the problems of dark space, cracked pavement, drainage problems, cross circulation for bicycles and the recirculation of water in the central fountain.