Delaware River Trail

Video by Five Story Media

The Delaware River Trail is a scenic multimodal trail that stretches along Philadelphia’s Central Delaware River Waterfront. The trail improves accessibility to a variety of businesses, residences, and DRWC-operated public attractions such as Spruce Street Harbor Park, Blue Cross RiverRink Summerfest and Winterfest, and Cherry Street Pier.

A significant portion of the trail between Washington Avenue and Spring Garden Street was completed in Spring 2022, improving safety for all modes of travel along Columbus Boulevard, accommodating walkers, joggers, and cyclists, and providing clear separation from motorists.

Download the map to keep handy as you explore the Delaware River Trail.

To date, the Delaware River Trail runs 3.3 miles from Pier 70 in South Philadelphia to Penn Treaty Park in Fishtown, including interim trail segments between Tasker Street and Washington Avenue. This marks a significant milestone in the Master Plan for the Central Delaware, which recognized the strong public desire for a continuous Waterfront trail with a close connection to the river where possible. DRWC is actively pursuing acquisition, design, and construction funding to extend the trail north to Allegheny Avenue and south to Oregon Avenue, consistent with the vision established in the Master Plan.

Trail features include:

Two miles of curb-separated, bi-directional asphalt bike path separated from a sidewalk for walking and running
Landscaped planting beds that provide safe buffers between different modes of traffic, that include hundreds of new trees and beautiful, seasonal shrubs and grasses
Solar-powered pedestrian light poles
Distinctive furnishings, including benches, bicycle racks (including a two-tier bicycle shelter at Spruce Street Harbor Park), trash and recycling cans
A bicycle and pedestrian counter at Spruce Street Harbor Park depicting monthly and yearly numbers of cyclists and pedestrians
Increased stormwater management through new inlets and strategic garden beds
Easier access to the public, commercial, and residential spaces along the trail

The Delaware River Trail is also home to a brand new public art installation (completed April 2022): Weaver’s Knot: Sheet Bend, a site-specific public artwork by Studio Ball Nogues located between Cherry Street Pier and Race Street Pier on Columbus Boulevard. The piece was realized through the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy’s (OACCE) Percent for Art Program and DRWC’s Waterfront Arts Program. The Waterfront Arts Program aims to activate the Waterfront with high-quality, innovative public and performance art that embraces non-traditional venues, and establishes the Delaware River Waterfront as a cultural destination for the City.

The artwork takes the form of a giant knot constructed in stainless steel spheres with a shiny finish which gives them a mirrored, reflective appearance. The spheres range in size and are welded together to create the knot shape. The knot shape is attached to tall steel poles with wire rope cables and suspended overhead. The entire structure is 21 ft. tall. Weaver’s Knot and Sheet Bend are traditional names for a knot used to bind different thicknesses of rope. The knot acknowledges the history of textile production and sailing on the Delaware River and serves as a reminder of Philadelphia citizens whose lives intertwine to weave the fabric of community: person to person, one knot at a time.

The trail is part of the East Coast Greenway and the Circuit, a vast regional network of hundreds of miles of multiuse trails across Pennsylvania and New Jersey that is growing each year. It also creates an important connection to Spring Garden Street, the site of a planned Greenway connecting the Delaware River to the Schuylkill River.

The Delaware River Trail is accessible year-round, seven days a week. Have questions about the trail? Contact trail@drwc.org.