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Report: Mayor Kenney plans waterfront park on top of I-95

Conceptual designs released in 2014 show where a proposed waterfront park would cap Interstate 95.  Mayor Kenney plans to press forward with the proposal, according to a report in PlanPhilly.
Conceptual designs released in 2014 show where a proposed waterfront park would cap Interstate 95. Mayor Kenney plans to press forward with the proposal, according to a report in PlanPhilly.Read moreHargreaves Associates

Mayor Kenney plans to announce $90 million in city funding for a planned waterfront park that will extend from the Delaware River on top of Interstate 95 and Columbus Boulevard in Center City, according to a report Monday by PlanPhilly.

The park, which is intended to create a friendly green space connecting the waterfront to the rest of Center City, would cost a total of $225 million with the additional funding coming from state and philanthropic sources, the website reported.

The project, which is still in the early design stage, would encompass 11 acres between Chestnut and Walnut Streets. An existing park, which includes the Irish Memorial, occupies part of the space over I-95, but stops before Columbus Boulevard and is 30 feet above the level of Penn's Landing.

The city expects that the park will spur $1.6 billion in private economic activity in the area and lead to 2,400 permanent jobs.

Hargreaves Associates, a landscape archiecture firm, was hired in 2013 to develop a strategy for making pedestrian access to the waterfront easier from Old City.