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Philly gets more than $1 million for city trails, including old trolley line

Trail projects in Philadelphia will receive more than $1 million in grant money from Pennsylvania's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Among the projects are $90,000 for development of the Trolley Trail, with work to include about 3 miles of trail from the Chamounix Mansion to the exi

A view from the Trolley Trail in West Fairmount Park.
A view from the Trolley Trail in West Fairmount Park.Read moreSAMANTHA MELAMED / Staff

Trail projects in Philadelphia will receive more than $1 million in grant money from Pennsylvania’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the Wolf administration announced Tuesday.

Among the projects are development of the city’s Trolley Trail, with work to include about 3 miles of trail from the Chamounix Mansion to the existing Trolley Trail near Belmont Valley Creek.

“Trails are all about connectivity — communities to each other, people to being active outdoors,” Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn said in a press release.

The grants come from the state’s Keystone Fund. DCNR officials announced 37 grants statewide, totaling $11.2 million.

Among the local projects:

  1. $400,000 to the Delaware River Waterfront Corp. to buy about 2.7 acres needed for just over a third of a mile of the Delaware River Trail. Plans call for this trail to provide a continuous public access path along the Philadelphia waterfront. When complete, it will be part of The Circuit, a series of trails planned to link 750 miles of trails throughout the Philadelphia region.

  2. $500,000 to Philadelphia Department of Parks and Recreation for development of the Schuylkill River Trail. Planned work includes nearly a half-mile of trail from PECO’s Christian Street Service Center to South Stanley Street. The Schuylkill River Trail runs through Southeastern Pennsylvania and will be about 130 miles long through to Schuylkill County when complete.

  3. $90,000 to Philadelphia Department of Parks and Recreation for its Trolley Trail. When complete, the full Trolley Trail network will stretch 4.5 miles, following the old path of a trolley that ran through West Fairmount Park in the early 20th century.

  4. $25,000 to Philadelphia Planning Commission to study development of 4.3 miles of the Lower Poquessing Creek Trail, from Glen Foerd on the Delaware to Junod Park. The trail is designed to connect neighborhoods along Poquessing Valley Park and Benjamin Rush State Park in Northeast Philadelphia.

A full list of Pennsylvania’s 12,000 miles of trails is available at www.explorePAtrails.com.