Philly walks on water

Joggers on the Schuylkill Banks Boardwalk approach the South Street Bridge. Photo ©2014 Sandy Sorlien

Connection to nature is one of four primary qualities that generate a strong sense of place in a city or town, according to urbanist Richard Florida. Other qualities include: Walkable urban form; history and historic preservation; and culture and arts. 

The first quality is why beach and mountain towns are so appealing. But some of the most dramatic juxtapositions with nature are possible in big cities. The High Line in New York City, where people stroll through high-rises buildings on a raised linear park, is one dramatic example. In Philadelphia, a city that has turned itself around in the last decade after 50 years of decline, the Schuylkill Banks Boardwalk has a similar impact. This facility allows residents and visitors to view the city in a new way: On a bike-walk trail that hovers over the Schuylkill River, connecting nature trails to the south and north.

Those who traverse the trail find a peaceful place, apart from the city, yet under the glittering skyline, Inga Saffron, The Philadelphia Inquirer’s architecture critic.

“The new 15-foot-wide walkway dives into the river at Locust Street, and doesn’t crawl back onto dry land until it reaches the South Street Bridge, a joyous journey more than 2,000 feet long. Along the way, you’re borne over the water like Huck and Jim on their raft, simultaneously a part of the world and temporarily removed from it,” she says. 

Compared to the famous High Line—an expensive, high-design, architectural creation—The Schuylkill Banks Boardwalk is utilitarian. It was designed and built by engineers. The cost is less than a third of the High Line per linear foot—despite the High Line using existing infrastructure while the boardwalk was built from scratch. The engineering, using caissons to drill 40 feet down to reach bedrock, is impressive. The walkway hovers six to 12 feet above the river, depending on the tides, and follows the bank about 50 feet off-shore. It is built to withstand frequent river floods.

Prior to the boardwalk’s opening, the nature trail stopped at this Center City stretch because the CSX railroad tracks are too close to the banks. The Schuylkill River Development Corp., which maintains the trail, and the engineering firm URS debated various solutions before settling on the meandering, 15-foot-wide walkway that includes wider parts for sitting and fishing. 

Just prior to opening in Mid-October, Saffron predicted crowds of users. “Because it is so exciting to be out on the boardwalk, we know that it will immediately be packed with joggers, cyclists, and slow-moving pedestrians, all competing for space. The main path (on shore) is already so crowded, it is nearly impossible to ride a bicycle there most times of the day.”

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

Robert Steuteville is the editor and executive director of Better Cities & Towns. This article appears in the November-December 2014 print issue.