Schuylkill Banks Boardwalk

The next leg of the Schuylkill Banks Trail is well on its way.  This portion is the critical 2,000 foot-long boardwalk that will link Locust Street to the South Street bridge.  At the South Street Bridge, a 460-foot, ADA-accessible ramp will bring pedestrians from the river up to the deck of the bridge.  The boardwalk itself will be 15-feet-wide and have four expanded lookout areas for people to pause or lounge mid crossing.

To avoid harming or disturbing trees, SRDC sent a crew out in kayaks to measure the distance between the shore and the reach of the tree canopy.  With that information the design firm for the project, URS Corporation, deigned the boardwalk 50-feet from the shore, out of reach of any overhanging limbs.

The biggest challenge to this project is the extreme high tide of the Schuylkill.  The river's five to six foot high tide impacts the pier caps immediately.  Therefore the contractor must adjust his work schedule to ensure that forming and concrete ours are done during low tide for pier caps.

Currently all the piers are in place for the boardwalk, and half of the pier caps are on.  the beams are in place on five of the total 21 boardwalk spans.  On the ramp portion of the project, all of the beams are in place and the bottom portion of the ramp, where the earthen support wall must be built, is under construction.  The bridge is scheduled to be complete sometime early Fall of 2014.

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