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Philadelphia officials hope to make neighborhoods and businesses more accessible and safer for pedestrians and cyclists. The city has been awarded a more than $13 million federal grant to expand the Schuylkill River Trail.

The city said the projects will help people without a car commute to jobs, reduce vehicle emissions and provide more hiking and biking opportunities.

The initiative is part of a regional network known as Circuit Trails, which aims to connect more than 800 miles of trails across Pennsylvania and New Jersey by 2040.

“Our goal is to have a family, a parent with a young child, let’s say 12 years old, to be comfortable riding together on a Circuit Trail,” said Patrick Starr, chair of the Circuit Trails Coalition and executive vice president of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council.

The new U.S. Department of Transportation grant will fund two projects in Philadelphia.

The “Passyunk Connection” will extend the Schuylkill River Trail along the river by about 4,500 feet. The new trail will connect the area of 61st Street with Passyunk Avenue in South Philadelphia. Currently, pedestrians and cyclists are forced to turn around at a dead end.

The expansion will allow pedestrians and cyclists to travel to several neighborhoods in South and Southwest Philadelphia, the Navy Yard and FDR Park. The project is part of a master plan, currently halfway complete, to connect the Schuylkill River Trail from Center City to the Delaware River.

“This is a direct connection to Center City, especially if you’re on a bicycle. And of course, that trip is free,” said Joseph Syrnick, president and CEO of the Schuylkill River Development Corporation. “Getting to Center City is important, because that’s where some schools are, that’s where restaurants are, that’s where theaters are, but most importantly, that’s where the jobs are.”

The “Wissahickon Gateway Trail” will provide a 2,000-foot, off-road, multiuse trail and bicycle-pedestrian bridge between the intersection of Ridge Avenue and Kelly Drive and the Pencoyd Bridge on Main Street in Northwest Philadelphia.

Currently, pedestrians and cyclists must travel along a narrow shoulder and sidewalk near an interstate highway on-ramp to travel between Wissahickon and Manyunk.

“It’s busy, there are transit riders who are waiting for their bus, and it’s very difficult to navigate through. Many people just turn around and go back,” said Sarah Clark Stuart, trails and transportation manager at the city’s Streets Department. “They’re not going to take their young child through that. If someone is not a very experienced bicyclist, they’re not going to try to manage it.”

She said the new trail will help pedestrians and cyclists travel across the Wissahickon Creek toward Manayunk. The trail will also help people who live in the Manayunk-Roxborough neighborhood travel to Center City by bicycle, Clark Stuart said.

The two Schuylkill River Trail projects are expected to be complete in about four years.

The U.S. Department of Transportation set aside an additional $2 million in community grants to help Philadelphia study infrastructure challenges around the Richmond Industrial Track, a freight rail line that divides the Fairhill and Kensington neighborhoods.

The Hispanic Alliance of Contractors and Enterprises will use the “Reconnecting Communities”  funding to conduct a community-led, two-year study focused on safety, mobility and quality of life issues in the community.

Maria Gonzalez, president of HACE, said the neighborhoods are not safe for pedestrians and cyclists due to crime, poor lighting, limited sidewalks and aging infrastructure. There have been a number of pedestrian fatalities in the area, Gonzalez said.

“It’s not safe when [residents] have to have eyes in the back of their head when they want to cross the street, and they wouldn’t even dream of biking around the neighborhood,” she said. “No one wants to live in chaos. They want a safe, clean, vibrant living environment so they can feel good about themselves when they come home or leave their homes.”

Since 2018, HACE and other organizations, such as the Rails to Trails Conservancy and the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, have been working to revitalize the Richmond Industrial Track, including connecting the area to the larger Circuit Trails network.