Docking on the Schuylkill River
Some days it feels as if the Schuylkill Banks (as the Center City riverfront is now called) will never be finished. Then some huge piece of machinery lumbers onto the asphalt recreation path and a new amenity appears. This time it's a pair of boat docks: One went in last month at the foot the Walnut Street Bridge, the other at Bartram's Garden. The docks are designed to handle small tour boats and pleasure craft. Sometime late next summer, after a third dock is installed at the Waterworks, you'll be able to take the Cabin Cruiser for a six-mile, round-trip spin on the Schuylkill River.
The Schuylkill River Development Corp., which raised $615,000 to pay for the first two docks, actually has much grander plans in store. Since few people are fortunate enough to keep a motorized pleasure craft tied up in Center City, they are looking to hire a tour-boat operator to run scheduled cruises. By spring, you may be able to buy a ticket for a moonlight champagne cruise on the Schuylkill, or hire a boat for a wedding reception. They also want the operator to offer daily, hour-long trips for school groups. Once people get used to thinking of the lower river as a place to play, there are any number of ways it can be used. Drop some ideas here, or send them to the SRDC.
Unfortunately, things are not exactly cruising along with the Schuylkill Banks' landscaping. You could outfit a new Rittenhouse Square faster. Construction workers were suppose to wrap up the riverfront landscaping in October. The project involves softening the edges of the asphalt path with plantings, seating and other amenities. But workers were nowhere near being done when last month's heavy rains came. The flooding destroyed the stone work at what is supposed to be the park's centerpiece - a stepped amphitheater going in near the Market Street ramp.
Now the contractor and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are haggling over who should pick up the tab for re-building the tiers of stone steps. Don't expect a fully landscaped park before next spring.
Incidentally, in case you've been wondering how to get onto the docks from the land side - you haven't lost your mind. There are no gates. They will be installed later this month. SRDC officials promise.
The Schuylkill River Development Corp., which raised $615,000 to pay for the first two docks, actually has much grander plans in store. Since few people are fortunate enough to keep a motorized pleasure craft tied up in Center City, they are looking to hire a tour-boat operator to run scheduled cruises. By spring, you may be able to buy a ticket for a moonlight champagne cruise on the Schuylkill, or hire a boat for a wedding reception. They also want the operator to offer daily, hour-long trips for school groups. Once people get used to thinking of the lower river as a place to play, there are any number of ways it can be used. Drop some ideas here, or send them to the SRDC.
Unfortunately, things are not exactly cruising along with the Schuylkill Banks' landscaping. You could outfit a new Rittenhouse Square faster. Construction workers were suppose to wrap up the riverfront landscaping in October. The project involves softening the edges of the asphalt path with plantings, seating and other amenities. But workers were nowhere near being done when last month's heavy rains came. The flooding destroyed the stone work at what is supposed to be the park's centerpiece - a stepped amphitheater going in near the Market Street ramp.
Now the contractor and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are haggling over who should pick up the tab for re-building the tiers of stone steps. Don't expect a fully landscaped park before next spring.
Incidentally, in case you've been wondering how to get onto the docks from the land side - you haven't lost your mind. There are no gates. They will be installed later this month. SRDC officials promise.
posted by Inga Saffron at 4:42 PM
1 Comments:
I had the opportunity to take one of the cruises from Bartram's Gardens a couple months ago, and even with the Banks in a state of general disarray it was a fun, fresh perspective on the city.
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