At the September 10th Fairmount Park Commission meeting, Joseph Syrnick of Schuylkill River Development Corporation presented the current design of the connector bridge, the same as presented at the June public meeting. The Fairmount Park Commission granted its approval of the conceptual design and will review the final design for approval in the near future. The City is still obligated by the settlement agreement to build the bridge by October 2009, so we hope the design is finalized in a timely manner.
The June 12th public meeting about the Connector Bridge held at Trinity Center for Urban Life had many interested park users come to learn and ask questions. Schuylkill River Development Corporation and Fairmount Park, along with the engineering consultant HNTB, made a presentation updating the community on the status of the bridge design and spent about an hour answering questions. Look at the slideshow (pdf) presentation and renderings of the bridge below. If you would like to share any thoughts about the current design treatment, please email us at fsrporg@gmail.com and we will pass your comments along to the rest of the Design Concept Team.
Important information to bear in mind about this project:
The Philadelphia Turkey reports on an alternative crossing solution when a train blocks Locust and Race Streets. Read it here.
The design concept team (DCT*) carefully reviewed the comments and ideas from park users, stakeholders and neighbors gathered at last fall's meeting and surveys on the three alternative alignments, and also studied several other potential alternatives that involved structures outside of Schuylkill River Park. Upon this review, the DCT concluded that the "yellow" or "west border" alignment was the most feasible and best met the needs of the project and the community's concerns.
The 'yellow" alignment runs along the western edge of the Schuylkill River Park over the CSX tracks to Schuylkill Banks in a south to north line. This bridge, in addition to serving as an above grade crossing, will provide an access point between the river and Schuylkill Banks to Schuylkill River Park and the surrounding neighborhoods. It will fulfill the original conception of Schuylkill River Park as connecting the city to the riverfront.
Please note that the accompanying picture is only an alignment, not a final design treatment. The engineering firm HNTB will now prepare a preliminary design taking into considerations the public's comments in addition to the features recommended in the 2006 Master Plan developed by Friends of Schuylkill River Park.
We thank everyone who made their voices heard during this process. Your input contributed to making this public engagement process constructive and successful.
*The Design Concept Team consists of the Schuylkill River Development Corporation, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia Streets and Commerce Departments, Friends of Schuylkill River Park, Schuylkill River Park Alliance, Center City Residents Association, University of Pennsylvania, and the Pew Charitable Trusts.
At a public meeting on November 4, 2007, three possible routes for the Connector Bridge were presented to over 120 neighbors. The 3 routes are: the Red Path, the Yellow Path,and the Green Path. Below are 2 images for each of the 3 alignments. The first is an aerial view of the park with the location of the bridge in its designated color. The second is an artists rendering of what the bridge might look like in this location. These are conceptions; nothing has been decided. With neighborhood input from the meeting and from the online survey the designers can refine the plan that best suits the park users and neighbors.
In April of 2007, the City signed an agreement with CSX to allow grade-level crossings to access the Schuylkill Banks. One stipulation is that the City provide a pedestrian bridge to access the path near Locust. The Friends of Schuylkill River Park was part of a team that met with three consultants and selected HNTB to do the job. Schuylkill River Development Corporation will now discuss designs and negotiate a fee with the selected consultant for the conceptual stage of the project. Community meetings will be scheduled to ensure that the there is public input in the process. Completion of this phase will allow the project to move into preliminary engineering and Final Design. The City-CSX Agreement deadline for completion of the bridge is Oct 2009.