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While the elevated portion of the old Reading Viaduct, stretching through Callowhill and Chinatown, has grabbed the imaginations of design-minded Philadelphians with High Line envy, a local group says the longer, and much lower-lying, City Branch of the Viaduct could be ripe for a rapid transformation into a sprawling urban rail trail. For the past year and a half, a small coalition of locals under the name Viaduct Greene has been attempting to rally support for just that — despite a competing vision for the elevated portion that's also underway. This weekend, a group including officials from Septa, the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, various local development groups and the Mayor's Office of Transportation and Utilities walked through the site, which starts not far from the Philadelphia Museum of Art and snakes underground all the way to the Inquirer building on Broad Street.
It's like Philly's collective cellar, cool and gloomy, with lots of rubble and trash, shafts of light interspersed with long stretches of darkness. But unlike the elevated Viaduct branch, still in the hands of Reading International, it's owned by Septa. Said Byron Comati, Septa's director of strategic planning, "Why would Septa be interested in it having another purpose? Because it doesn't have one now. If we can repurpose it, then it becomes a maintainable asset, it's sustainable."
Paul Van Meter, a landscape gardener, and Liz Maille began the initiative with an eye to the Viaduct's history. Van Meter had been researching the old rail line, and he and Maille decided to walk around and search for the entrance, hidden in the woods off Pennsylvania Avenue. Instead of darkness and rubble, says Van Meter, they saw "Philadelphia's next great civic space."
"We realized that it was almost a three-mile right of way, and that, wow, this is a fabulous opportunity for Philadelphia. It connects so many diverse neighborhoods," Maille says. Plus, unlike the elevated branch, "We thought there's a lot more opportunity to make this happen fast."
They want to have an international ideas competition to devise a plan for the space, as well as bring in community opinions. Organizers say they could envision a simple rail trail, an underground performance and art space, retail, a commuter trail that connects Parkway condos with Center City offices, or a museum corridor to link with the PMA, the Rodin and the Barnes. They're hoping to speak with Bart Blatstein, the developer who now owns the Inquirer building, about obtaining access to the ramp through which the Viaduct resurfaces at Broad Street.
There is the matter of the other interested advocacy group, the Reading Viaduct Project, which is focusing on the elevated branch. Maille points out that "designed holiistically, [the entire park] would be much more valuable." And Van Meter notes that a current proposal starts wih work at the point where the elevated railway hits ground level — a mistake, he feels, that would make things "exponentially more expensive" since supplies would have to be lifted up rather than trucked up to less accessible reaches of the Viaduct.
Either way, Van Meter says he hopes to start as soon as possible, with signage to remind visitors along the corridor's path of the rich industrial history of this site, which was vital to the local economy before the Main Line railroad was built. Says architect Aaron Goldblatt, who is involved with the effort, "This was one of the most industrialized corridors of the world for many decades. Philadelphia is so associated with tri-corner hats and all that, but we were the workshop of the world." He sees the Viaduct as a window into that history.
Still, whether the will to move forward can be generated — and the two visions for the Viaduct can be reconciled — remains to be seen. Says Van Meter: "Politics, politics. You do what you can do, when you can do it."
* This story originally stated that Paul Van Meter is a landscape architect; it should have said landscape gardener. As well, participants told CP that they were set to speak with Blatstein; the copy is adjusted to reflect that no such talks have yet occurred.
If there's even a remote possibility of re-using this as a subway, as the Crossing the Lines imagines, converting this to a trail would be a very, very bad idea.
http://philadelphia2050.blogspot.com/2011/09/costing-city-branch-line.html— tsarstruck- Mr. Van Meter is NOT a landscape architect, he is a gardener!— Palin, no way
- Why would the city of Philadelphia or any other group entrust someone to undertake such a project who so clearly lacks the educational knowledge and professional experience required for such a project?— Palin, no way
- geez Palin no way, (and I'm with ya on that. vanMeter is, very proudly a landscape gardener. to date, has not spoken with Bart Blatstein (or any other developer). And just now, Viaductgreene is interested in driving the most creative consideration of the project's possibilities. That's all.
Maybe you'd enjoy spending more time at www.viaductgreene.org before sounding so dismissive.— Paul vanMeter - Viaductgreene is interested in driving the most creative consideration of the project's possibilities. That's all. -all three miles of it.
— Paul vanMeter - Paul,
I've already have spent (wasted) time on your website, hence my comments!— Palin, no way
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