The City of Philadelphia is set to expand trail access in Manayunk after winning a nearly $1 million state grant to fill a gap in the trail network where the Schuylkill River and Wissahickon Creek intersect.
The $947,668 grant awarded to the Philadelphia Streets Department will be used to acquire the right-of-way necessary to build a trail segment between Kelly Drive and Main Street, near Manayunk’s Pencoyd Bridge, according to a list of grant awardees posted on the pa.gov website.
The award is one in a series of grants totaling $47 million that will fund 54 transportation projects across the commonwealth. The awards from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s Multimodal Transportation Fund (MTF) program were announced Dec. 23 by Gov. Josh Shapiro’s office.
The Philadelphia project, named the “Wissahickon Gateway Trail,” would create a formal link from the Schuylkill River Trail to the Wissahickon Valley Park Trail network, allowing pedestrians and bicyclists to navigate the busy roadway around Ridge Avenue and Main Street, according to the city’s project plan released in February.
Officials said the area’s crash rate is four times higher than the city’s average, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported in February.
“This trail segment will replace a dangerous on–road gap along one of Philadelphia’s highest–injury corridors with a safe, off–road connection that will improve daily life for those who live, work, commute, and travel through Northwest Philadelphia,” said Patrick Monahan, the Pennsylvania chair of the Circuit Trails Coalition, a network of organizations that advocate for the completion of a connected trail network in the greater Philadelphia region.
“Securing funding to obtain right–of–way access is a major step forward for this project and for regional connectivity,” he added in an email.
The Wissahickon Gateway Trail is slated to stretch along the river, behind Regal Cinemas and the new Wissahickon Transit Center, and cross over Wissahickon Creek via a proposed bridge.
The next project step is to raise funds for construction, Chris Young, communications manager for the Streets Department, said.
The segment aims to close a gap in the Schuylkill River Trail, which draws more than 20,000 users a year. There are also plans to connect 120 miles of the multi–use path from Philadelphia to Frackville in Schuylkill County, according to the nonprofit Schuylkill River Greenways.
Wissahickon Gateway Plan
The new trail is a result of years of planning by the city and community to improve traffic flow, economic development and trail access at the Wissahickon Gateway.
Those efforts kicked off with the 2008 Ridge Avenue Plan, which was created by the East Falls, Manayunk and Roxborough Development Corporations. It was followed by the Philadelphia Parks & Recreation’s 2013 Schuylkill River Trail Gap Analysis, as well as the Philadelphia City Planning Commission’s 2014 Lower Northwest District plan.
The planning commission’s 2018 Wissahickon Gateway plan outlined goals for the trail and other public projects, such as expanding the Wissahickon Transit Center to improve public transit. The new center opened in December, six times larger than the former facility.
In January, the city received a grant of about $7.2 million for the Wissahickon Gateway Trail through the Biden administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. But those funds were paused after President Trump took office.
Recent Multimodal Transportation Fund grants
PennDOT’s Multimodal Transportation Fund was created in 2013 to help fund transportation projects “that enhance communities, pedestrian safety, and transit access,” according to the state’s website. In the most recent round of funding, PennDOT selected applicants based on “safety benefits, regional economic conditions, technical and financial feasibility, job creation, energy efficiency, and operational sustainability.”
The state is set to provide about $1.3 million to Philadelphia in the most recent round of funding, with nearly $330,000 going to the Center City District to upgrade transit centers in preparation for Philadelphia250, the release reads.
This year, the region will celebrate America’s 250th anniversary with an extensive calendar of events that include hosting the FIFA World Cup, NCAA March Madness games, the MLB All-Star game and the PGA Championship.
PennDOT also awarded about $8.7 million for four projects in Montgomery County. Conshohocken Borough received $1,324,000 to implement a plan that would calm traffic and improve pedestrian safety along Fayette Street, according to the list of MTF awardees.
Applications for the next round of MTF grants are due by Feb. 13 at 4 p.m.
Abby Weiss is an environmental reporter for the Local and a Report for America corps member. She can be reached at abby@chestnuthilllocal.com.