Mayor Kenney speaks at South-Christian opening

Officials and trail enthusiasts were giddy at the packed opening of the new segment of the Schuylkill River Trail opening on Friday, April 20. The new section of trail is between South Street and Christian Street, and includes a stairway from the new Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia building to the trail.

Among those in attendance and speaking at the opening event: Mayor Jim Kenney; Kathryn Ott-Lovell, Commissioner, Parks and Recreation; Michael DiBerardinis, Managing Director, City of Philadelphia; Secretary Leslie Richards, PennDOT; Diane Kripas, Trails Manager, DCNR; Councilman Kenyatta Johnson; State Senator Larry Farnese; State Representative Jordan Harris; Doug Hock, Chief Operating Officer, CHOP; Shawn McCaney, Executive Director, William Penn Foundation.

The new South to Christian trail and greenway extends the Schuylkill River Trail a third-of-a-mile toward South Philadelphia.

Photo: Daniel Paschall

As we explained in a previous blog post, the trail itself, at this point, doesn’t connect back to Christian Street in the city because CSX forbids any new at-grade crossings. However, in the near future, that section of trail will connect to the other existing portions of the Schuylkill River Trail via the (yet to be built) Christian to Crescent trail segment. This connector is a large capital project that recently received a large federal grant.