Published on December 10 2020

The Delaware River Waterfront Corporation (DRWC) is making incredible progress on the construction of the Central portion of the Delaware River Trail (DRT), a multimodal, protected path that spans the length of the east side of Columbus Boulevard/Delaware Avenue from Washington Avenue in the south to Spring Garden Street in the north. When it is complete in the Fall of 2021, this segment will connect to existing off-road portions of the DRT that lead to Washington Avenue Pier and Pier 68 in the south and Penn Treaty Park in the north. Eventually, the DRT plans to extend the Delaware River Trail along the river’s edge all the way to Allegheny Avenue.

The vast majority of the existing and under-construction portions of the trail between Pier 68 and Penn Treaty Park are built on public or DRWC-owned land. In some cases, however, DRWC relies on agreements with private property owners to construct the trail on their property.

To date, DRWC has agreements with many property owners, but there are still some segments where they are not yet in place. In the case of the segment of trail between Reed and Tasker Streets in South Philadelphia, the land is controlled by US Construction. In the Fall of 2020, US Construction began preliminary, exploratory construction activities related to their plans to construct a mixed-use, primarily residential project, and made the decision to close the portion of trail that runs through their property.

We understand that the DRT is a treasured destination and empathize with the disappointment visitors experience when confronted with this closure and detour. DRWC has been in conversation with US Construction about a long-term plan for the trail and will continue to advocate for improving access in the short-term, even while construction is on-going. We are awaiting responses from their team on how long the section will be closed and will keep the public updated as we learn more.