The Future of Biking to the Navy Yard (and 4 Routes to Take Today)

This week Glaxo Smith Kline began moving its Center City workforce to the Philadelphia Navy Yard. With 130 employers and 10,000+ employees in the Navy Yard, the bicycle commuting traffic heading south will only grow. Yet South Philly has not seen the infrastructure investment other neighborhoods have received to accommodate rising bicycle commuting rates.

Striped but not marked - 11th Street bike
lanes in the Navy Yard complex

Fortunately invested groups and the City of Philadelphia are working on making bicycle commuting to the Navy Yard easier. We worked with the Community Design Collaborative to develop conceptual plans to make 13th and 15th streets bike-friendly north of Oregon Ave. South of Oregon the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission is completing conceptual plans for a shared-use path along South Broad St to the Navy Yard gate. The City itself has a plan for the Navy Yard which features "bicycle routes" on multiple streets, and its Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan calls for bike lanes on Kitty Hawk Dr. and League Island Blvd.

While this planning is all nice and well, Philadelphians need to bike to the Navy Yard today. Fortunately there already exist some very bikeable routes. We tweaked some suggested bike routes in Google Maps to give you some ideas.There are lots of options through South Philadelphia, but ultimately you will eventually have to get on to South Broad St to complete your trip. Google Maps pegs travel time from Central Philadelphia to the Navy Yard at roughly 30 minutes. And if the weather turns sour the Navy Yard Shuttle buses have bike racks.

Four Bike Routes from Philly Neighborhoods to the Navy Yard

• Fishtown to the Navy Yard: click for map
• Chinatown to the Navy Yard: click for map
• Schuylkill River Park to the Navy Yard: click for map
• West Philly to the Navy Yard: click for map click for map

UPDATE: An original version of this reported 310 companies at the Navy Yard. The correct number is 130.

Events in April: Explore New Trail/Bike Opportunities

Bob Thomas (photo by Phil Straus)

Sunday, April 15th - 1 pm - Walking Tour of the (proposed) Forge to Refuge Trail -- Plans are afoot to extend the Cobbs Creek Trail as part of the proposed Valley Forge to Heinz Refuge Trail.  Join architect and trail designer Bob Thomas on an exploratory walk from West Philadelphia to Haverford Township to see the various possibilities for this portion of the trail, which would travel through Cobbs Creek and Karakung Parks. For more information and registration go to the Parks Alliance website and click on "walking tours"

April 18 & 19th - 5:30 pm - Lower Schuylkill River Master Plan Feedback  Sessions.  Phila Industrial Dev. Corp. and Phila. City Planning Commission will present early ideas and recommendations from the Lower Schuylkill Master Plan and give citizens the opportunity to offer feedback. The Master Plan Study for the Lower Schuylkill River District is a collaborative effort to create a blueprint for high-quality sustainable redevelopment of the historically industrial corridor along the east and west banks of the Lower Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, PA.  This is a great opportunity to advocate for completing the Schuylkill River Trail from Bartram's Garden down to Fort Mifflin. Meetings are April 18th at 5:30pm at the Richard Allen Charter School, or April 19th at 5:30pm at UPenn's South Bank Campus at 34th & Gray's Ferry Avenue.

April 24th - 3:30-5pm Earth Day Navy Yard Bike Tour. Hosted by Greater Philadelphia Innovation Cluster (GPIC) for Energy-Efficient Buildings, this ride will feature an overview of the Navy Yard's past, present and future, its sustainability-focused tenants, water department initiatives, and much more. Register here.

Anthropologie Merges Into Philly's Bike Lanes

Philadelphia is quietly becoming one of the most bike-oriented cities in the country. You know the saying: first comes biking. Then comes bike lanes. Then comes boho bike lane dresses.

Anthropologie has recently rolled out the bike lane dress.

Unlike its muse, this dress can and should be deployed on sidewalks.

Evidently, some of those designers down in the Navy Yard are getting there by bike, despite the (present) lack of a good north/south bike lane route through South Philly. That, or they are shamelessly capitalizing on Philadelphia's growing love of bicycling.

But either way, we're glad to see our hometown yuppie-boho clothing designers are encouraging women ages 20-40 to punctuate their springtime looks with a homage to how we're getting around.