Men at work: Jeff Perry works on the new trail that will connect to the Delaware River. The “Baxter Trail,” which will include a bridge across the Pennypack Creek, is expected to be complete by March.
Work on another link in the city’s system of hiking, jogging and biking trails started last week with ceremonies at Pleasant Hill Park in East Torresdale.
As Mayor Michael Nutter and other public officials spoke about the trail’s benefits to the city’s economy and the health of Philadelphians, the real work on the trail had started just around the bend from an existing paved section. Construction workers were already on the job, grading some ground off Linden Avenue. The “Baxter Trail,” which will include a bridge across the Pennypack Creek, is expected to be finished by March. It will connect the Pennypack’s trails to one next to the Delaware River.
It’s also supposed to connect people to jobs, recreation and public transportation, and link neighborhoods as well.
It will, the mayor said, “bring new life to the Philadelphia waterfront.”
Nutter said the new path will become part of “the circuit,” which will be a network of 300 miles of trails in Greater Philadelphia. When the circuit is completed, “it will be unlike any other trail network in the United States.” That, too, will be part of the 2,900 miles of the traffic-free East Coast Greenway from Key West, Fla., to Maine’s border with Canada.
The city trail along the Delaware is being built up from Port Richmond into Bridesburg and will go along an unused railroad bed in Tacony.
Nutter praised the work of former U.S. Rep. Bob Borski, now chairman of the Delaware River City Corporation, and U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-13th dist.) in securing funds for the circuit. The mayor also thanked Councilman Bobby Henon (D-6th dist.) and other public officials.
Last Thursday was the first time the mayor had been to Pleasant Hill Park, off Linden Avenue and near the Delaware, Nutter said. Going to groundbreakings for various trails, he said, “reminds me of how many places I haven’t been … There are so many, many more things for us to see.”
“Our greatest resource is our Delaware River,” Henon said. All the city’s green spaces are great resources, Schwartz said, but cautioned, “the city doesn’t stay green unless we make it so.”
Also at last week’s ceremonial groundbreaking were Parks and Recreation Commissioner Michael DiBerardinis, Borski and Patrick Starr, executive vice president of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council. ••
Men at work: Parrish Clary works on the new trail that will connect to the Delaware River. The “Baxter Trail,” which will include a bridge across the Pennypack Creek, is expected to be complete by March. MARIA POUCHNIKOVA / TIMES PHOTOS
