The Circuit Trails are always open but after a quick ceremony on Friday, April 15, they were made officially open for the 2016 season. On that day, many gathered at Race Street Pier after a ride across the Benjamin Franklin Bridge to mark the official beginning of the summer riding season. And it was officially a blast.
@ConnorBarwin98 leads the way to celebrate opening weekend of Philly Circuit Trails #onthecircuit pic.twitter.com/YsrgmutCR4
— Dave Spadaro (@davespadaro) April 15, 2016
“We stand here today with more than 300 miles of complete trails, with fifty more miles in development and we expect to open more than 10 new trail segments later this year. These hundreds of miles of trails connect urban, suburban and rural communities across a two point five million acre area,” said the Bicycle Coalition’s Executive Director Sarah Clark Stuart in her remarks.
The Circuit Trails Coalition hopes to one day announce the opening of its completed 750 miles of trails.
These organizations that helped bring the trails to where they are today include the Circuit Trails Coalition, the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
Beautiful day #onthecircuit! @WilliamPennFdn ED Laura Sparks & @PECPA Exec VP Partick Starr @circuittrails kickoff! pic.twitter.com/sZOEbmeIKA
— East Coast Greenway (@ECGreenway) April 15, 2016
Another notable attendee at the pier was Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Connor Barwin who is highly active in neighborhood revitalization projects and local green initiatives.
This wasn’t the only event held that weekend hundreds came out for events around the area that weekend to show why they like being #onthecircut. The Philadelphia area saw numerous other walks, runs, cleanups, opening day celebrations and rides including an 18-mile “Barnes to Barnes” ride organized by the Philadelphia Bicycle Coalition. There was also a tree planting event across the Delaware by the New Jersey Tree Foundation. Additionally, a new website for the Circuit called circuittrails.org launched the same day.
Automatic shade! #onthecircuitpic.twitter.com/EA1mzuVPIM
— NJ Tree Foundation (@NJTrees) April 16, 2016
See the images below for the weekend activities.
-Zach Mentzer