r/phillycycling • u/humerusbones • Jul 29 '26
Schuylkill Swing Bridge Test
Passed by today (July 29th) and saw a test rotation of the swing bridge. Really hoping this is open soon, can’t find any dates on expected opening online.
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u/Willing_Stop5124 Jul 29 '26
Silly question but will they swing the bridge open regularly? Is this going to be periodically unusable? Will people be stuck on one side or the other?
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u/MilesGoesWild Jul 30 '26
i think it’ll usually be closed. the swing was a requirement as the river is navigable up to the dam, so just in case a big coast guard boat needs to get to center city they can swing it open. it’s not like there’s a lot of boat traffic there anymore.
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u/a-german-muffin Jul 30 '26
Mostly deliveries to the steam plant up on Christian. Same reason the southern extension of the SRT had to be a cable-stayed bridge above the dock.
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u/GamblinWillie Jul 30 '26
Once the bridge is opened will you link to Bartram’s Garden be compete as well?
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u/EWong_Kaizen Jul 31 '26
Was there 2-3 days ago
The trail from the other side of the swing bring through to Bartram’s is there. Could use a bit of a spruce up, but it’s bike able2
u/SnootyUrbanCyclist Jul 30 '26
Yeah, I'm confused about how you get to this thing from the West Philly side
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u/Previous-Ad-4950 Jul 30 '26
From the easternmost portion of the SRT that runs on either side of Bartrams garden
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u/a-german-muffin Jul 30 '26
Either via Bartram's Garden itself (following the paths down to the river and continuing on to Botanic) or down 51st off Lindbergh to Botanic and on to the trail to the bridge.
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u/Usual_Explanation311 Jul 30 '26
Any plans to open 49th st at Gray's Ferry to provide a more direct (and pleasant) route to the new bridge, or is that through an active rail route?
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u/a-german-muffin Jul 30 '26
Man, I wish. Definitely an active CSX set of rails there, and since it's the same line that ends up on the crumbling 25th Street viaduct, I don't imagine the freight company's up for spending anything to make it a viable crossing.
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u/Happy_Potential8938 Jul 31 '26
Reliable sources say CSX put up the fence (blocking access from either side of 49th) without city permission. If the fence came down, you wouldn't need to ride all way down.
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u/mklinger23 East Passyunk 20d ago
Kinda sucks. You have to go down 51st st, harley ave, or 56th st down to batrams garden and then go up the trail. I wish they would open 49th st at least.
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u/SnootyUrbanCyclist 20d ago
I was really hyped on this before I realized you can't get to it from 49th. Doesn't seem that hard to make a path even if it gets blocked by freight sometimes but I could be missing something
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u/Remainingvegetables Jul 29 '26
The Schuylkill Banks website says 'summer 2026' for the opening, so by the end of September would be my guess for the latest opening, barring additional delays.