Friday, October 03, 2008

Ben Franklin Bridge Access Switches to Dreaded North Walkway

With bridge painting nearly complete on the north side of the bridge the Delaware River Port Authority will be closing the south walkway and opening the north walkway on Monday October 6.

The north walkway is less desirable because it narrows into a 3-4 ft wide cattle chute on the Camden Side of the bridge. It is also less convenient to get to the walkway from the historic district as you either have to use 5th St tunnel and double back to the entrance or carry your bike down and up the stairs of an underground pedestrian tunnel. Use of pedestrian tunnels are also required on the Camden side to get to Rutgers, the RiverLINE or Walter Rand Transportation Center.

There is a silver lining riding into Philadelphia is easier as you don't enter the street network facing traffic.

3 comments:

Peter said...

You don't need to use a pedestrian tunnel on the Camden side. Simply bicycle down to 2nd or 3rd street ( depending on your direction of travel) and bicycle under the bridge.

Anonymous said...

Painting on the north side is not complete. It's still not done from the Philadelphia touchdown up to the first traffic light thingee (that spans the bridge).

Also the anchorages have not been painted (north/south and Camden/Philadelphia)

Anonymous said...

I'm bummed! I hope it doesn't take 'em long to reopen the south side.

However, the new hours ('till eight) is great so I can't fault them too much.