Trail Developers, Residents Discuss Manayunk Bridge Possibilities

Representatives of more than a half-dozen public and private sector organizations met at North Light Community Center Thursday night to devise a design plan for the Manayunk Bridge, which would connect the and the Ivy Ridge Trail. 

Jeff Reigner and Scott Page of Witman, Requardt & Associates, LLC gave a power point presentation on the past and the future of the approximately 800-yard span with the goal of getting input and ideas from those in attendance. 

Reigner and Page handed out postcards asking the 30 people present to write down suggestions for lighting, security, plantings, and other facets of the project in anticipation of a follow-up meeting sometime in the summer. 

Time is of the essence for design ideas. A condition of the $1.3 million PennDOT grant is that funds must be obligated by the fall of 2012. The design team presented timelines from today through the summer of 2012 for the actual design and approval process, fall and winter of 2012 for the bidding process, and the possibility of construction in the spring of 2013.

A major unknown in the project is the exact condition of the bridge. Money spent on repair of the structure is money that cannot be spent on the aesthetics of the trail. The Manayunk Bridge is 32 feet wide with only 28 inches of usable space.

Exposed manholes dot the middle of the bridge and need to be brought up to level in order to guarantee a wider and safer surface for bicyclists and pedestrians. 

High fences are also necessary to ensure that trash and other debris does not fall from the bridge onto the Schuylkill Expressway, the SEPTA R6 railroad line and the Norfolk Southern freight train line below. 

Making the trail compliant with access provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act will require the construction of ramps on both the Lower Merion and Manayunk side. Access from the Manayunk side would be at Dupont and High Streets where SEPTA currently owns a parking lot.

Other engineering considerations include water runoff, lighting, and maintaining clearances for the active utility lines running alongside.  

The Manayunk Bridge is on the National Register of Historic Places. It was built in 1884 by the Pennsylvania Railroad as an “S” steel bridge. In 1918 the “S” bridge was replaced with an open spandrel concrete bridge. The bridge was acquired by SEPTA in 1976 to use for the Cynwyd rail line.  In 1986, SEPTA closed the bridge due to disrepair. In 1999, part of the bridge span was repaired to prevent concrete from falling onto Main St.