Remember yesterday, when it rained so much you were thinking that perhaps building an ark would be prudent? As it turns out, the rainfall over the past couple of days represented one of the worst rainstorms in our city's history. Last night, a section of I-76 was closed down, and this morning, local roads were flooded all over the region. At one point, a large section of the Schuylkill River Trail was under water. By the time we got there, much of the water had receded but we still saw some flooding.
But the flooding wasn't limited to the park itself. The new extension of the trail, which will eventually push the park southward beyond the South Street Bridge, was itself partially under water. Check out this image from early this morning from Hibbs Don't Lie. As you can see, part of the boardwalk was totally submerged.
Looking at the boardwalk from the Connector bridge, and comparing it to a photo we took two weeks ago, you can get an idea of just how high the river is right now.
Pretty crazy, right?
If you're able to forget about the incredible height of the river at the moment and just consider the progress of the boardwalk, it's encouraging to see just how far along things have gotten. We'd imagine that the project will be finished sometime late this year, at which point it will be time to complete the next section of the trail, running from South Street down to Christian Street. Expect that to take at least a few more years.
Still, bit by bit, the trail is extending. Are we crazy to hope for a connection to the Grays Ferry Crescent section in the coming decade?