At long last, a new pedestrian bridge for Wissahickon Valley Park

A section of Wissahickon Valley Park that exploded in popularity during the pandemic just got a major upgrade in the form of a new pedestrian bridge with an observation deck, a stream restoration, and a new trailhead.

The $3.5 million project revamped an area along the stream, Valley Green Run, that serves as an unofficial “front door” to the 2,000-acre, city-owned nature area in Northwest Philly.

The park draws more than 2 million visitors a year, putting heavy stress on its infrastructure, said Ruffian Tittmann, executive director of the nonprofit Friends of the Wissahickon. At times 1,000 people a day enter through the Valley Green Run area.

“These were two critical pieces of infrastructure improvement that needed to happen — restoration of the run and some sort of trail continuation,” Tittman said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony that drew several dozen people to the park Tuesday morning.

Step pools, woody plants, and schist outcrops

The main new feature is the accessible, 200-foot, galvanized steel-and-wood bridge, which hovers over the stream and connects two sections of pathway. 

Visitors who park in a nearby lot can now walk down a path to a plaza-like trailhead at the northern end of the bridge, and then stroll to the observation deck or cross the stream to reach a trail that goes further into the park. 

That allows them to avoid walking down a stretch of asphalt road and having to mix in with two-way car traffic.

“We received so many comments from the public, both drivers and pedestrians — after the trail collapsed and people could no longer access the full length down to here — about the many pedestrians that were on the road, and what a dangerous situation that created,” Tittmann said. “At the same time, we were seeing severe bank erosion here on the run.”

The bridge and expanded observation deck area provide an expanded view of the stream below and of an adjoining hillside with the “Wissahickon’s signature schist outcrops,” a geological rock feature, per the Friends of the Wissahickon.

As part of the project, workers restored about 215 feet of the stream’s channel by using boulders to build streambank walls and mini “step pools.” That will reduce soil erosion by the flow of rainwater during storms, and keep pollution and sediment from flowing into Wissahickon Creek, a major source of drinking water for city residents.

Over 200 native woody plants were added to the newly built-up stream bank, which will also help slow stormwater flow and erosion.

A generational project 

Tittmann said the project has its origin in the collapse of the trail along Valley Green Run 20 years ago. FOW staff responded at the time by building a wooden boardwalk, which lasted about 10 years, until a storm wiped it out and forced pedestrians to use the narrow asphalt road.

The nonprofit started applying for grants for the project, the first of which was awarded in 2015, and over the years got help from a long list of donors, including Philadelphia’s Parks and Recreation Department and Water Department. 

At the event Tuesday, Parks commissioner Susan Slawson noted that during the height of the pandemic, city residents and out-of-towners “descended on Wissahickon Valley Park in droves to seek safe outdoor recreation,” and she applauded the FOW for transforming the valley to accommodate visitors and for engaging diverse groups of park users.

The state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Department of Environmental Protection, Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program and Commonwealth Financing Authority also kicked in dollars for the bridge project, as did the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

“This has been our backyard”

However, the biggest chunk of funds, totaling $1.3 million, came from private foundations, Friends of the Wissahickon members and other individual donors, according to FOW.

They include Linda and David Glickstein, a retired Chestnut Hill couple whose names were combined to create the bridge’s official name, Lida Way.

The Glicksteins, who formerly published a newsletter and guidebooks to East Coast travel, have long been major supporters of the park and the FOW, supporting trail rebuilding, purchase of a utility vehicle and computers, and challenge grants.

“We’ve lived here for over 50 years, and this is where we’ve hiked, and this has been our backyard,” Linda Glickstein said, as guests mingled on the new bridge trailhead Tuesday. 

She said the great benefits of the park is that it gives a wide variety of city residents and others relatively easy access to wild green space. 

“We run into people taking buses up — one guy carrying a little stool, he’d come up every week and find a quiet spot and do some writing, get out in nature,” she said. “So what’s really nice is, it is accessible.”

Editor’s Note: Linda and David Glickstein are WHYY supporters. WHYY News produces independent, fact-based news content for audiences in Greater Philadelphia, Delaware and South Jersey. Billy Penn is a WHYY News brand.