The Schuylkill River Trail is a 120-mile trail that begins in Frackville in Schuylkill County and ends at Fort Mifflin, outside of south Philadelphia. The trail only has 75 completed miles, with many unconnected segments and areas that are still in the process of getting built. One of the most used sections of the trail by both bikers and pedestrians is the section within Philadelphia City limits. With the steady rise of people using the trail, comes concerns about safety.
From the years 2011 to 2021, the City of Philadelphia saw a 50% increase in pedestrian deaths. According to the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, there were 52 deaths related to pedestrian traffic crashes as of June 30 of 2024.
One of the biggest groups to use the Schuylkill River Trail (SRT) are runners. George R. Morse is a Vice Captain of the Philadelphian chapter of Black Men Run (BMR). BMR was founded in Atlanta in 2013, by Jason Russell and Edward Walton, with the aim to create a “Healthy Brotherhood” for African American men by promoting a culture of running or jogging to stay fit. Morse joined the Philly chapter of BMR in 2015, at the encouragement of his high school classmate and mentor. Before joining BMR, Morse had never seen a group like them; pushing and supporting one another in order to lose weight as well as defy the health disparities that Black men face in the US. He was hooked after one run, by the camaraderie and fellowship he experienced.
“A lot of running groups have been popping up across Philadelphia and the Philadelphia region,” he said. “I know we’re going to be coming up on daylight saving time soon. So, in the fall, it’s going to get darker quicker. When it gets darker quicker, we try to make sure, like we alert our runners. In a running community, you’ll see more people coming out with like reflective vests, more well-lit clothing, more brighter clothes, just to keep your, you know, your visibility open on that path. If you got a headlight, it’s good to wear like a headlight with a that’ll keep the trail lit for you, because sometimes along the path, you’ll see that all the light poles may not be functioning properly.”
While he hasn’t personally experienced crime on the SRT, he knows of others who have.
“Between Girard Ave Bridge & Strawberry Mansions Bridge there are three parking lots,” he noted. “Lot no. 1 is the smallest right under Girard Ave Bridge. Lot no. 2 is at the John B Kelly Statue right after the bleachers. Lot no. 3 is at Temple and St. Joe’s Row House right before the Strawberry Mansion Bridge. Unfortunately, a few years ago to of my fellow runners had their vehicles broken into while we went on a group run.”
Another leader in the Philadelphia Running Community is Freddy Mahugu. Mahugu is the founder of the Wynnefield Track Club, a running group that meets every day of the week to run early in the morning on the Schuylkill River Trail. Mahugu is a certified USA track and field coach from Kenya who ran his first marathon in 2015 in Philadelphia. He runs as a form of positive meditation and has been coaching for several years both locally in Philly as well as globally.
Unlike Morse, Mahugu has had to battle back from the mental fallout of experiencing a safety incident on the SRT.
“It was my afternoon run” he said. “It was like a little 30-minute takeoff recovery run. So I was in a very relaxed state, you know, feeling great. It was a beautiful day. And just to come across that, it was very alarming. And, you know, just mentally it, you know, really, it puts you in a bad space. Just knowing that you know you could lose your life, potentially coming down on this trail. Much for what happened to that particular incident, but you know, just knowing that things happen where you can get assaulted, some people passing away and coming across that. So, it definitely affects you. The next time you come out and you know, just always have to be on alarm, basically just making sure you’re aware of your surroundings. Definitely something you don’t forget.”
Both Morse and Mahugu agree that there is more that the City could be doing to ensure the safety and protection of pedestrians on the SRT.
Sarah Clark Stuart is the Trails and Transportation Manager in the Streets Department for the City of Philadelphia. When asked about the resources the City was able to provide for people who do experience mental challenges due to seeing or experiencing safety incidents on the SRT, she outlined preventative measures pedestrians should take as well as how to report incidents.
“People should report things to 9-1-1, but there isn’t really any resource other than that,” she said. “I would encourage runners to not use earbuds or not use earbuds in both ears. It’s very, very important for runners to be able to hear people and back of them and. And that’s. You know that is a that is sometimes seen as a. And in true, you know, kind of that that some runners are, you know, don’t like that, but it is really much safer that they be able to hear what’s going on, whether it’s someone coming up from behind them or someone trying to warn them of something in front of them that they’re not seeing.”
Morse agrees that the best way for pedestrians to keep safe is to be aware of their surroundings.
“You got to be able to be mindful, share the trail with others – whatever people using the trail,” he said. “Before you move out of the way of someone passing by, [if] you[‘re] going in the same direction, make sure you’re monitoring what’s in front of you. You don’t want to step off to the side, then let them go by, and you step onto like a camel hump, like a lifted-up piece of cement or some type of tree branch or a rock, and then you lose your footing, and an accident could happen.”
The SRT is undergoing a reassessment currently, according to Stuart. The goal is to fix a lot if not all of the issues that both Morse and Mahugu raised.
“[The aim is] to bring the path up itself up to good state of repair, and so that would include any drainage issues, lighting, the retaining walls,” she said. “It’s sort of more depth than just what maybe a trail user might be thinking about. Currently there is a path and there’s sort of a like a I call it a cow path, kind of a foot path that runners use. Some runners use as opposed to the paved apart. There may be an opportunity to formalize that so that there’s [a way to] formalize that to help separate bicycles and pedestrians, where there’s enough room to do that.”
The project does not have a project finish at the current time, facing financial obstacles, but the City is hopeful that is will completed within the next five to eight years. In addition to the ongoing reassessment, the City is also making strides toward their Vision Zero goal of replacing the lights with LEDS – to improve energy efficiency as well as lighting for both pedestrians and drivers. At the moment, they have replaced 75% of their 2025 goal. Another angle of the Vision Zero project is to eliminate serious injuries and crashes in Philadelphia, and to spearhead this movement the City lowered the speed limit on Kelly Dr. While they have yet to see any significant effects and are continuing to gather data, the cities that they based the initiative on have seen positive progress.
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