Reaching the Hidden River

Reaching the Hidden River, November 10, 2006

CSX Switches Tracks from Closing Off Access to "Keep on Living"

Hard to believe that a little over two years ago (October 26, 2004 to be exact) CSX sued the City of Philadelphia to close the two crossings at Race and Locust Streets.  This in spite of overwhelming public support for keeping them open that was communicated via your emails and phone calls directly to CSX and to elected officials.  Free Schuylkill River Park worked to ensure that the voices of park users were heard expressing support for both crossings to be kept open and made safe for pedestrians, cyclists and other park users through the installation of gates and other crossings technologies. 

In early 2005, the City and CSX agreed to try and settle the case.  Although eighteen months have passed and they are still working out the details of a settlement, we are pleased that CSX has switched tracks and is now trying to work with the community to make the crossings safe until an agreement is in place, instead of working to close off our access. 

Earlier this fall, after consulting with Free Schuylkill River Park and SRDC, CSX started its "Keep On Living" campaign to send a positive message about using caution around the tracks and discouraging people from crawling through parked trains.  As you probably have seen, they've been handing out T-Shirts, water, hats and frisbees to the delight of park users.  (We see those T-shirts everywhere!).  Now, they've installed four signs at each crossing with a map of alternative routes to exit and enter the park if a train is blocking the crossing. 

This safety campaign signals to us that CSX acknowledges that people will use these two crossings no matter what.   The crossings must be made safe and CSX needs to demonstrate its good faith by not parking trains to block them.

We're pleased that CSX is more willing to be a good neighbor than two years ago; and we're anxious to see if this good faith can get translated into the settlement agreement that is being worked out with the City's Law Department.

Film Loop of Mike McGettigan of Trophy Bikes photos

FilmLoop of photos from Runnin' On The River

What's New from SRDC

Wednesday, September 27

In case you missed it, Schuylkill River Development Corporation held a public meeting on Tuesday, September 26th to announce some latest developments.  Here are the highlights:

1) The section of Locust Street to South Street is beginning to be designed. A design team (URS Corp and CH Planning) has been selected and their contract is being negotiated. 

2) The City of Philadelphia is working on acquiring the 16 other properties that are needed in order to extend the trail down to Bartram's Garden.

3) There is "Transportation Enhancement" funding for the Dupont Crescent in the Gray's Ferry neighborhood; this section of the trail may be done before the Locust-South Street section is completed. 

4) Another "transportation enhancement" has been obtained to landscape the area north of Race Street up to MLK Drive.  The Pennsylvania Horticulrtural Society and the firm of Brown/Keener are beginning to work on the design.

5) Other capital projects in the works are: the 3rd dock at the Fairmount WaterWorks and making the JFK Bridge and Market Street bridges more pedestrian friendly.  The bridge work will most likely begin in Spring 2007.

6) SRDC is planning a private giving campaign.

Our comments at the meeting were that the community should be given ample opportunity to provide input to the designs of the Locust to South Street and north of Race Street sections before extensive design is completed.  Additionaly, we asked SRDC to try new and creative means of communicating with the public as it moves into new projects.  We urged them to take advantage of Free Schuylkill River Park's website and email blasts to get the word out.

CSX Was Workin' On The Railroad Today

September 25, 2006--What was going on today?

CSXT was out in force replacing rails that had worn away.  Lots of cool machinery were out on the tracks making an incredible racket.  Nevertheless, the workers were quite hospitable in allowing park users to get across the crossings in spite piles of dirt and heavy machinery.  Our understanding is that the work shouldn't take more than a day or two.  We'll see! Check out other photos in the CSXT Track Work album on the right hand column.

Late Summer Updates

August 29, 2006  www.freetheriverpark.org

The Petition Drive was highly successful; thus far we have over 1500 signatures of persons declaring their support of safe and legal street level access into the Park. 

All of the blocked access data submited via the complaint forms through the website by park users has been graphed.  The data shows that July 2006 was a "heavy" month of blocked access.  Two graphs, which can be seen in the photo album to the right entitled Blocked Access Data, shows some interesting patterns.  We graphed data for 2006 and data from 2004 through 2006.  The data reveals that train parking is heaviest during the summer months.  CSX has explained that summertime is when track work is most intense and crews go on vacations, thus trains sit parked on the tracks for longer periods of time.  And Bill Goetz of CSX also made the point in his public letter to the community that during July 2006, track work in New Jersey was the cause of most most of the parked trains by our Park. 

Fairmount Park completed installation of directional signage that guide park users from Locust Street to the Montgomery County line.  This development was prompted by our request (and that of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia) to Fairmount Park Director Mark Focht that some temporary signage be installed to help people know how to use the various paths and trails to get from Center City to Valley Forge.  Read more about it in Fairmount Park's press release here.  Now we can get there from here!

The single rail some of you may have seen last Thursday blocking Race Street was placed there by CSX to replace other track that was broken.  We reported it to CSX on Friday 8/25 asking them to remedy the situation so that bikers could get across. Thankfully, it was buried right away.

Reaching the Hidden River, June 5, 2006

It was a beautiful day on the Banks yesterday (Sunday, June 4th).  The lawn south of Walnut Street is looking particularly lovely these days and we hope the rest of the Banks will look as green in the near future.  We joined the staff of Schuylkill Banks at the SBC (Schuylkill Banks Center) under the Walnut Street Bridge and set up our new tablet computers.  We invited park users to take a few moments and sign our online petition declaring their support for safe crossings.  Over 75 people stopped by to sign the petition, which was a terrific response to our call to action.  When we hit 1000 signatures (we're at 600 now), we will deliver the petition to the Street Administration and CSX, who are now negotiating a settlement over the lawsuit that CSX filed to close both crossings back in 2004.  We want the City to negotiate a good settlement that will preserve street level access at Race and Locust Streets and make the crossings safe for park users using moveable gates, fencing and lights. 

Sign the petition now!  Click here to sign it today!

Reaching the Hidden River, May 12, 2006

Hope Spring Eternal--Talks Flourish as Park Takes Off in Great Weather

No doubt about it. It's been a lovely spring in Philadelphia with glorious weather and comfortable temperatures.  The Park's landscaping is nearing completion, with the installation of benches, trees and new topsoil along the southern end near Locust Street.  As anyone who has ventured onto the Path can attest, the number of park users just seems to grow every day.  What with SRDC planning a whole series of boat trips, concerts and movies for Schuylkill Banks this summer, it's incumbent upon CSX and the City to make both crossings safe for park users.  So, it's good news that CSX and the City's Law Department appear to be doing some real talking back and forth. Our campaign's goal, to preserve and make safe both Race and Locust Street, is foremost on our minds as the two parties hammer something out.  Meanwhile, we've launched a petition to demonstrate how many park users truly want both crossings to be made safe.  We'll use the petition to keep the pressure on CSX, elected officials and the City's Law Department to reach an agreement that keeps both crossings open and made safe for pedestrians. If you haven't already, sign it today!

Reaching The Hidden River, February 28, 2006

One Year Later: Negotiations Restart Again!

Nearly one year after negotiations between CSX and the City restarted in February 2005 (after the railroad sued the City in October 2004), they have restarted a second time. Negotiations broke down in March-April 2005 over the Locust Street crossing, which CSX has up to now, been unwilling to accept as a grade crossing.  After City Council held hearings in October, November and December 2005 and after CSX and the City had several meetings with Judge Kauffman, during which he urged the two parties to keep talking, CSX and the City’s Law Department sat down again to talk in early February 2006. The difference this time, at the meeting, (per the Judge’s request) Free Schuylkill River Park was allowed to attend! It was a friendly and productive meeting, during which the City put their proposal on the table and CSX asked for a month to think it over. We expect some sort of word from CSX in early to mid-March. Stay tuned!

Reaching the Hidden River, February 1, 2006

Schuylkill Banks Path Earns its Stripes and Signs Up!

Over the course of 2005, Free Schuylkill River Park conducted several online polls to get suggestions for how the Park could be further improved.  A frequent response was to "stripe" the path to help direct users to stay to the right and reduce the risk of collisions, and to place street name signs on the six bridges that span over the Path to help park users locate themselves.  Free Schuylkill River Park coordinated these two tasks between Schuylkill River Development Corporation (SRDC), the "stripping" contractor, and PennDOT.   Free Schuylkill River Park also shared the cost of the stripping contract with SRDC, thanks to the support of many park users who made contributions. Thank you for supporting Free Schuylkill River Park to help make the Park an even better and safer place to walk, run, and bike!