The Philadelphia Trail Master Plan is available for review and public comment until May 31st:
This Master Plan was developed by the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. They plan to adopt the plan at their June or July meeting.
As stated in the Plan: "The Citywide Trail Master Plan process began in the Spring of 2011 as a joint effort of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission and Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, in collaboration with the Mayor’s Office of Transportation & Utilities. Due to limited funding for trail and park projects, the City recognized the need for prioritizing proposed trail projects to serve Philadelphians citywide and best use available planning, design, and construction funding. The City and its non-profi t partners are expanding the existing trail network along the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers, within watershed parks, and through neighborhoods. This Plan will define priorities for future trail development in Philadelphia."
In the past two years, Philadelphia renovated or completed several miles of trails. Currently, 7 miles of trails are under construction with an additional 8.5 miles in design and 13.2 miles in the planning and feasibility stages.
The Master Plan sets four goals for its trail network: Connectivity, Safety, Encouragement, and Open Space. The Plan conducted an analysis of all seventy-fi ve proposed trail projects citywide in stages of development from vision to planning/feasibility study to preconstruction, each with an associated priority ranking. Each of the alignments was scored in five main factors: Project Status, Demand, Connectivity, Feasibility, and Cost. Under the factors were 28 criteria, such as Close to Schools, In area of Zero Auto-Ownership, Major Riverfront Spine Trail, Part of a MultiAgency Project, or Investment Needed to Make Connection.
The resulting list of high, medium, and low priority proposed trails will shape how the City of Philadelphia demonstrates
support for trail projects, through funding, letters of support, involvement on Steering Committees, and maintenance
and operating agreements for long-term maintenance of trails.
Each trail has a page describing its features, future alignment and how it ranked in the priority list.
Please send comments to Jeannette Bruegger
before May 31st.
