On Thursday, PennDOT announced $24 million for smart transportation projects around the state — and funds to open the Manayunk Bridge, at $1.3 million, made the cut.

No kidding. Looks like Manayunk is going to be reunited with “West Manayunk.”

Deputy Mayor Rina Cutler and Stephen Buckley of the Mayor’s Office of Transportation pulled this off – big thanks to them, and the team at SEPTA that opened the door to this idea. Those of us who have worked on this locally know that Kay Sykora (Schuylkill Project), Sarah Stuart (Bicycle Coalition) and Chris Leswing (Lower Merion) have worked their tails off to get us to the table. This project couldn’t be in better hands. If this bridge gets a trail, you all drink free in Manayunk.

Congratulations, too, to all the volunteers at Ivy Ridge Green who stepped up a couple of years ago to provide a partner to this project on the Philadelphia side of the river. Ace job, and a hell of a fun group of people.

We still need your help.

Philadelphia still needs to complete the Schuylkill River Trail. Come to the cleanup this MLK Jr. Day, the 17th, to get your back into it. Or become a member of the Bicycle Coalition and make a donation — they have a track record of turning our lunch money into millions of dollars for the Philadelphia trail system. The Manayunk Bridge is just one (brilliant) piece of what we hope can be a 14-mile green transportation corridor that will link Montgomery and Delaware Counties through the heart of Philadelphia.

Nearer to home, keep an eye out for the trail design process for Ivy Ridge this Spring / Summer, and the beginning of construction on the Cynwyd Heritage Trail. There’ll be plenty of changes to get involved.

This is happening, folks!

Just like that — and the rails are gone.

In 5 mid-June days, a subcontracted crew with a truck from Tennessee removed every remaining rail from the Manayunk Bridge to the Ivy Ridge Regional Rail station. (Hey, it’s looking more like a trail all the time…)

The ties remain – removing them would require a separate contract that would cost SEPTA money, whereas they made a few dollars by scrapping steel from the rails.

But it looks gorgeous out there. Click the photo above for another couple photos of the rail bed, and plan on joining us in July for another cleanup of Canton Street.

If you missed the first walk in February (attended by over 100 people), the Complete the Schuylkill River Trail Coalition is holding a second walk from Bartram’s Garden to Dupont Crescent on Saturday, June 19th.

Meet us at the Bartram’s Garden parking lot at 9:30am. We will walk through the Bartram’s property to 51st Street, over to Gray’s Ferry Ave, and over the Gray’s Ferry Bridge to see the newly constructed Dupont Crescent site across the river. Refreshments will be provided. The walk will end at the Philadelphia Trolley Works, who will kindly “bus” everyone back to Bartram’s Garden after light refreshments. Approximate length of walk: 2 miles. Please RSVP for this event.

Manayunk is shot through with land owned by public agencies and private agencies like SEPTA: think of Germany Hill (Fairmount Park), Fountain Street Steps (City of Philadelphia, Water Department), and Ivy Ridge Trail (SEPTA) — just to name a few of that pieces that we care an awful lot about. This “in between” land makes up a lot of the character of Ivy Ridge, and maintaining it is an expensive hassle no matter which agency is trying to keep up with the trash & vines.

So let’s take a minute to just acknowledge the work SEPTA has done, over the years, to keep both the old and active R6 lines in shape and to partner with groups like Ivy Ridge Green who work with them to continue the effort.

Thanks to SEPTA’s team downtown — Lydia Gross, Joseph Devanney, and Enjoli Edwards — for getting us credentials every time we host volunteer cleanups. Thanks to Wendy Green-Harvey, in Government Affairs, for walking the line with us and helping to coordinate SEPTA’s maintenance with the neighbors. And thanks to Ed Wallace, the engineers, and the maintenance staff who have worked so hard to secure the safety of the bridges over Leverington and the Schuylkill River.

It’s my hope that eventually the old R6 can be leased to the City and the neighborhood as “Ivy Ridge Trail” and improved so that it is a safe, clean amenity for ‘Yunkers and a river-spanning connection to our friends in Lower Merion. But in the meantime, take a minute to send SEPTA your appreciation and remind your neighbors that we’re all pulling in the same direction here:

Please: if you see anyone dumping trash or tires, throwing rocks off any of the SEPTA bridges, or destroying SEPTA’s fencing, notify the Friends of Ivy Ridge Trail (chris@ivyridgetrail.org) and Ed Wallace (edallace@septa.org). Thanks in advance!

– Chris

Our compliments to the chefs! Cynwyd Heritage and Ivy Ridge Trails debuted the new Philly Bike Blender last Saturday at Manayunk’s “Home Grown” fall festival. Many thanks to the ‘Yunkers, young and old, who hopped on to blend their own pumpkin smoothies.

There are pictures.

Thanks in particular to Sustainable Manayunk & MDC for hosting the event, to Sheldon’s Crossing for sponsoring it, and to Annie Scott and Sarah “Fender Blender” Francis for getting the trails there.

PARK(ing) Day Philly was Friday, September 18th. PARK(ing) Day is an annual national event where citizens reclaim parking spaces and re-imagine other possibilities that space could be used for.  Check out this picasa album of spaces across Philly, including the space taken over by the Cynwyd Heritage Trail and Ivy Ridge Trail gang in front of La Colombe on Main Street. We got a lot of attention that day!

http://picasaweb.google.com/parkingdayphila/ParkIngDayPhilly2009?feat=email#

Thanks to Kevin Smith, Jane Green, Annie Scott, and Kay Sykora for the astroturf and plants. Great thanks to Cadence Cycling for loaning us a couple of the bikes! Also, thanks to Chris Leswing for printing some giant maps of the trail and trail connections. Until next year…

Huge thanks to Nicole Dillard at Penn Weekend Service for bringing a wonderful band of University of Pennsylvania Students out to Ivy Ridge Trail last Saturday.

Penn gave Ivy Ridge the complete treatment, leveling the path between the old Manayunk Station platforms, pushing the brush another yard back from the trail shoulder, and cutting a clear path to the Manayunk Bridge and the Schuylkill overlook.

Thanks as well to Tom Landsmann for tools and to SEPTA for repairing the access gate behind us. We are extremely grateful for what great partners we have both up and down the river!

Thanks to Colin Varga for the photos, to the wild men and women of Manayunk for widening Ivy Ridge Trail be a good three feet last night, and to our friends in Shawmont, Roxborough and Lower Merion for their tools, guidance and gas-operated enthusiasm.

**Really** amazing work this year on the Trail. Mark your calendars for the Tuesday, September 15th cleanup of the Fountain Street Steps, 6pm – 8pm.

As always:
http://www.ivyridgegreen.org/events-calendar/

See you out there!

Last Saturday, Pete D’Amico brought fifteen men from the Media Rugby team to spend the day clearing the most difficult section of the line, from the Manayunk Bridge to Leverington Avenue. Neighbors added to the effort with a meticulous job maintaining our earlier work from Leverington to Wright Street. Lower Merion, the Schuylkill Project, Tom Landsmann and Ivy Ridge Green contributed tools. Ridge Park Civic Association sponsored the cleanup. Thanks to their work and the sanitation truck arranged by Councilman Curtis Jones Jr.’s office, Ivy Ridge Trail is looking good before fall’s even begun.

Below the fold are some ways you can help:

SPONSOR A CLEANUP
Belong to a church, club, office or sorority that does volunteer work? Just ask Pete: we can use you here, and we’ll host a BBQ afterward.

HELP MAKE GRANT APPLICATIONS
Even micro-grants make a huge difference, and we have more targets than time. Help us coordinate an application to a funder or suggest one of your own.

DONATE
Your $100 contribution buys the fuel that clears a full mile of the trail, and your unused gloves, rakes, mowers and weed-whackers are all extremely valuable to our volunteers.

VOLUNTEER
Check http://www.ivyridgegreen.org for details. Every second Tuesday we work on a local project, with larger Saturday cleanups throughout the fall.

LOBBY
From time to time, we can use your help calling the city or SEPTA to request help with certain issues. If you are the type of person who likes to send an email and place a phone call, we’d love to add you to our “brigade.”

Above all, thanks for being a friend to the effort these past fourteen months. And let’s plan on celebrating the *next* fourteen months from a spot on the trail over the Manayunk Bridge!

A baker’s dozen from Ivy Ridge Green — with help from Chris Leswing and Sarah Francis from Lower Merion — hit the trial yesterday for the second “Two Hours on Tuesday” cleanup.

Thank you all for an unbelievable amount of work in a short stretch. Our three teams:

• Cleaned the shrubs and ivy off of the banks of the out-of-use R6 along Canton Street from Wright to Leverington Avenue
• Removed trash, rocks and debris from the trail bed to make this stretch mowable for neighbors.
• Cleared the knotweed and overgrowth off of High Street, where local developer (and trail supporter) Jerry Logue is set to break ground on his next set of houses along the Ivy Ridge line.
• Pruned back the cherry trees along Leverington Avenue to open up the pocket park beneath the old rail bridge and return the sidewalk to folks headed between Ivy Ridge and Main Street.

Nice work! It looks fantastic out there.

Our next “Two on Tuesday” is August 4th at Fountain Street Steps. Blaise Syrnick will lead a cleanup of the landscaping and planting job many of you contributed to this spring.

On August 22nd we will be back on the Trail with Pete D’Amico’s rugby squad.

Spread the word and let us know if you have any suggestions: ideabox@ivyridgegreen.org.