May 14, 2025
Provided Image/City of Philadelphia
The new Christian to Crescent trail connection includes 2,800 feet of pedestrian and cyclist pathways and features a 650-foot bridge, above.
Pedestrians and cyclists will soon have a path along the Schuylkill from South Philly to Center City.
The Christian to Crescent connector, opening Saturday, May 17, includes 2,800 feet of new trail. It starts at South 34th Street at the existing Grays Ferry Crescent trail along the river and curves underneath I-76 to Christian Street and the Schuylkill Banks Boardwalk. It includes a 650-foot woven harp, cable-stayed bridge over the water, the first of its kind in the state, according to city officials.
The updated segment, which broke ground in 2021, also includes a replaced 34th Street overpass for the tunnel connection to the trail, plus new lighting, benches, trees, plants and trash cans. The $48 million project is a joint venture of the Philadelphia Department of Streets, Schuylkill Banks and PennDOT.
Tyler Barile, an assistant chief construction engineer at the Streets Department, said the project was intended to provide a new route to get to Center City without a car.
"It opens up more areas of the city to green space along the river there, whether that's for commuting or for recreation or even a safe way to get to work and a safe way to exercise and enjoy themselves," Barile said.
Barile said the unique design was necessary, as the trail is bound by a rail line on one side and the river on the other, so there wasn't enough space to build it entirely on land. Engineers landed on a cable-stayed structure for the portion over the water, which is held up by cables that are connected to vertical towers in a diagonal line, allowing it to span greater distances without requiring so many structures below. The woven harp design includes intertwined cables for a particularly unique look.
"The design is not only very beautiful, but very strong and durable, in terms of being able to last and serve the city for a long time," Barile said.
The segment connects the Grays Ferry Crescent, an existing 1/2 mile path, to the Schuylkill River Trail, which starts in Schuylkill County and ends in Philadelphia. It's also part of the Circuit Trails, a network of hundreds of miles of paths in the city's suburbs and into South Jersey. Barile said this addition will be key for the off-road section of the East Coast Greenway, which extends from Florida to Maine.
Closer to home, Christian to Crescent will offer another space to enjoy the waterfront while offering a new transportation option to access Center City, Barile said. An additional project slated to open later this year, the Schuylkill Crossing, will connect the Grays Ferry Crescent portion to Bartram's Garden.
"The trail itself really provides that vital link between communities, which is what you need to allow communities to continue to grow," Barile said.
