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| Pierce Park skateboard daredevils with Philadelphia Art Museum in background |
While I like our urban walks in general (I love to go downtown), I had an ulterior motive for this trek (other than gelato). The city of Philadelphia is gradually constructing a recreational pathway alongside the Schuylkill River (the city's "western" river, as opposed to the much larger Delaware that flows along the city's east side). The recreational path and associated green space is called the Schuylkill Banks and it is immensely popular with walkers, runners, bicyclists, skaters, and skateboarders.
The easy parts of the trail have been built, but the city ran into a dilemma where a set of freight railroad tracks was located very close to the edge of the river. The city's solution for continuing the trail in this location was to build the trail out into the river on concrete pylons anchored into the bedrock below the silt. Because the Schuylkill is subject to flooding and bears lots of flood-borne debris, the structure had to be very sturdy but also aesthetically pleasing. I think that the city and its design team succeeded masterfully. The trail surface is poured concrete etched to look like wooden planks.
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| Kali about to enter the over-water section of the trail |
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| Detail of one of the handsome granite entrance posts to the over-water section |
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| Another entrance post detail |
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| The over-water trail at river level |
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| View of the over-water trail and Philadelphia from the South Street Bridge |
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| Symbiosis (left) and another structure whose title I didn't notice |
9 comments:
What a superb, though presumably rather expensive, solution to the problem. I take it that if a real tree were to keel over like the sculpture then the health and safety people would soon be cutting it down.
Great post, Scott! That new section of trail is so cool, and your penultimate photo of it is excellent. I love "Symbiosis." That is a wonderful sculpture. (Best gelato we've ever had was when my wife and I were in Sorrento in 2003.:)
John: I'm sure, when the trail opened, that the newspapers reported on the cost of the over-water trail, but I don't recall the figure. I'm sure it was in the millions of dollars. And, yes, such a "hanger" would most assuredly be cut down if it were near a trail or sidewalk; I'd have to do it in my natural area preserve, too, or I'd be liable for a suit if someone were hurt and I was aware of the dangerous situation.
Thanks, Packrat. I thought that the new trail was pretty cool, too. I'm sure that our Philadelphia gelato cannot compare with the "real thing" in Sorrento, but the family that makes it here is Italian.
The stuff's pretty expensive; it's a good thing we don't live anywhere close to one of the gelaterias in Center City!
This is such a great view of Philadelphia. I love their efforts to have a walking-hiking-biking trail in the city. So beautifully done. And, I love knowing that so many people come out and use this trail. Great artwork there too!
Robin Andrea: I can understand why the bridge site was mobbed by picture-takers, because the view of the city really is great, isn't it? I'm going to sound like a boor here, because I don't exactly understand why a realistic sculpture of a cracked tree supported by a smaller realistic sculpture of a tree is "art," but I do like the sculpture and Kali and I spent quite a few minutes gazing at (and enjoying) it.
A follow-up to the post: I learned today that the over-water trail (which can't be more than 0.25-mile long, cost $17 million to build. It had better withstand flooding!
I kind of agree on the tree sculpture. I have trouble seeing it as art, but I really like it.
Great minds think alike, Mark!
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