According to the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadephia, more than half of the Delaware River bridges between Lambertville, NJ and Wilmington, Dela. do not allow bicyclists or pedestrians, severely limiting access across the river, particularly in urban areas. A planned replacement for the I-95 Scudder Falls Bridge could continue this pattern, denying bicycles and pedestrians access even though doing so would create a connection between two popular trails, the Delaware Canal in Pennsylvania and the Delaware & Raritan Canal in New Jersey, which parallel the river for miles. The nearest Delaware River bridge which allows non-motorized access is about 3 miles from the I-95 bridge.
The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission has conducted a significant public outreach program and according to the consultant, the top request for the Scudder Falls Bridge project is the inclusion of a bicycle and pedestrian pathway. The DRJTBC includes bike/pedestrian access on 75% of its bridges, according to a spokesperson, but it has not committed to building a pathway on the Scudder Falls Bridge.
The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia has authored a petition calling for the inclusion of a pathway in bridge plans. TSTC and over 850 others have signed the petition, which interested readers can view and sign here.
– Post corrected 9/2/08.
This is as shortsighted as the CT DOT’s plans to upgrade the Merritt Parkway/Route 7 interchange (and other interchanges) with no accommodation for a future trail along the ROW when they know retrofitting, at some point in the future, will cost 10 to 20 times more. NJ is one of the states we point to as having better bike/ped policies so this is disappointing.We will be interested to learn if the petition is successful. We are using a different approach by participating in a stakeholder group that the ConnDOT convened after much criticism of the process they had used to design the Rt 7 interchange and the poorly implemented public information/participation process.
There are a lot of bicyclists using both of these trails who would benefit from a bicycle compatible bridge!
I truly never understood the reason for not having pedestrian compatible bridges. Think of the foot/bicycle traffic going between New Hope PA and Lambertville, NJ. If we are supposed to be “going-green,” then why are we not looking at these types of structures as a feasibility?
[…] Commission acknowledged that inclusion of the 10-to-12-foot-wide paths came in response to input from advocates, including the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadephia and TSTC. “The bicycle-pedestrian […]
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