Urban Cycle: A Spring Tour of the Central Delaware Waterfront

The beginning of this epic ride began with a warm, sunny 74 degrees and so many trees with spring flowers it was like riding an allergy cloud. Despite the sniffles it was absolutely gorgeous! I took the ever popular Pine Street bike lane all the way to Front Street, over I-95 to Penn’s Landing. Even the ominous, expansive Columbus Blvd. was decked out in spring colors; attracting birds, bees and even bikers!

Penn’s Landing/the Center City waterfront has some interesting bike infrastructure. First off the place is not very friendly for anyone who is not in four wheel vehicle; it includes a freeway and a six lane “boulevard”. In full disclosure, I have a personal beef with the Penn’s Landing as I think the concrete and asphalt design is the WORST festival space ever, one of the main functions it is billed as. In the summer when the city is 92, Penn’s Landing easily has to be 112, and it’s on the water. Anyway, apart from my personal feelings the area has TWO bike”ways” thorugh it. First, there are the standard 4 foot bike lanes adjacent to the lanes of traffic along Columbus Blvd. Then there is an awkward, yet valiant, attempt of a bike path along the river cutting through Penn’s Landing’s promenades. This path was very recently opened (Early 2010) and is a part of the Center City District's efforts to reprogram the waterfront and make it more user-friendly. The trail begins as an off-road, multi-use trail behind Wal-Mart at Pier 70 and continues off-road until Reed Street. Then the path becomes a blundering painted swath along the boulevard’s sidewalk until it ends currently around Race Street.

Speaking Race Street, I biked past the new Race Street Pier which is well into final construction stages for its May opening. This project is probably one of the most innovative and hopefully transformative projects along the Central Delaware River. The pier, formally known as Pier 11, was an abandoned finger pier that is best known for as the area where the Duck Boat tours previously launched into the river and being directly next to the Ben Franklin Bridge.

As part of the Civic Vision for the Central Delaware Plan, the Delaware Riverfront Corporation led a design contest for the multi-million dollar project. The final design by the renowned landscape architecture firm Field Operations was chosen in 2010. The pier is on par with the type of design that is found along the High Line in New York City, another one of Field Operations’ project. When finished the space will have essentially two parts, a gradually rising promenade and a passive lawn area.

Continuing up Columbus Blvd/N. Delaware Ave I abandoned the sidewalk for the bike lane and veered right onto Penn Street, home of the Waterfront Square monstrosity. Now if there wasn’t enough to dislike about this place: the disregard for scale, the deficit of public waterfront land, the uninspired architecture, there also is a lack of infrastructure upgrade. I’m not really sure how such a huge development got away without repairing the road right outside of of its gates. When attempting to sell condos for $600,000 one would expect that you wouldn’t get a flat when leaving your abode. Maybe they wouldn’t be on the auction block if they repaired the road…nah, that's wishful thinking.

On the other hand Waterfront Square's neighbor, SugarHouse [Casino], has a surprisingly lovely public path along the river; if one can find it through the sea of parking. For those of you unfamiliar with the Philadelphia casino battle, in short, SugarHouse is one of the two casinos that were placed in the city when the state passed gambling legislation in 2004. While the six-year battle to rid the city of casinos has successfully been able to revoke one of the licenses, SugarHouse opened in late 2010 to the chagrin of many city officials and residents. The current building is actually meant to be a temporary structure from my understanding. A more permanent, larger, structure will be constructed when/if there is a market for a hotel and meeting space. For now we are left with a building that is a spruced up Home Depot.

After biking through the parking lots and then back up to Delaware Ave. I noticed the asphalt pathway that was beckoning. Running along the main entrance to the casino and past a stormwater runoff ditch, the path led to a little urban oasis

The “path” consists of a wide promenade with benches placed along the northwest side to overlook the river. Along the southeast side of the main promenade is a wavering strip of gravel running down a rocky, fenced-off shoreline. In between the two paths is a landscaped buffer with fairly mature trees and lighting. The whole area has a relatively peaceful air about it despite being next to a casino; it is probably different at night. There are also some amenities that boggled my mind, like bike racks.

Along the river is an array of industrial ruins, pylons for old dilapidated piers and a cluster of old industrial pipes. While unsuccessfully researching what these pipes are/were used for I came across two interesting facts. First fact, the Jack Frost Sugar Refinery that used to stand on the site was HUGE. It was an 18 building complex (some buildings were 10 stories) and in its heyday employed 1,500 people. Also, there is an annual magazine for casino design. One of those facts is more interesting than the other. However, all I could surmise about the pipes is that they are remnants of bygones past and don’t do much now.

Jack Frost Sugar Refinery in the 1990s
Credit to: myng_arlong on Flickr

Practically right next to the casino is the only large area of green space one can currently find on the Central Delaware, Penn Treaty Park. Situated next to an aging power plant and the former site of a massive sugar refinery, this swath of green has actually been a park since the late 19^th century. As the name indicates the park is the supposed spot where William Penn signed a treaty with the Native Americans, in the 1680s. In old paintings Penn is standing under a great Elm tree, well currently there is an obelisk that stands in the same spot.

The park is roughly seven acres and is managed by the Friends of Penn Treaty Park. It is a fairly passive park with much of its area dedicated to lawn. There are a few picnic tables and a playground next to the obelisk on the north side of the park. Along the river is a rocky shoreline one can step out onto for a spectacular view of the Ben Franklin Bridge and Camden.