Camden County announces first of two bridges over Cooper River to connect trails, parks
CAMDEN - The county has planned the first trail bridge over Cooper River for bikes and pedestrians — the first of two new river bridges to cross the river and help connect the local and regional trail system.
Camden County environmental affairs director Jack Sworaski said the county has been awarded a $1 million grant from the New Jersey Department of Transportation to build a bridge over Cooper River, a Delaware River tributary that parallels heavily-traveled Admiral Wilson Boulevard (Route 30) in Camden.
Cooper River meanders through Cooper River Park in Haddonfield, Cherry Hill and Pennsauken before reaching Gateway Park in Camden along Admiral Wilson Boulevard, a main entry road into Camden and to the Ben Franklin Bridge and PATCO Speedline over the Delaware and into Philadelphia.
The new 12-foot wide span will cross Cooper River near the Speedway Gas station on the Admiral Wilson Boulevard to Flanders Boulevard on the opposite side of the river not far from Campbell Soup Co. headquarters and the Subaru office complex. The bridge will be 236 feet in length, have a clearance from the river at high tide of 10 feet and parallel the Admiral Wilson Boulevard bridge that already crosses over the river.
"The bridge will be built to make access to the trail system easier and safer and help to complete the LINK trail loop through the city," said Matthew Ludwig, senior engineer with NV5, a Philadelphia consulting engineering firm hired by the county to design the bridge.
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This project represents one portion of the Camden County LINK Trail, which also has other unfinished segments. When completed, the trail will travel through 17 Camden County municipalities between the Ben Franklin Bridge in Camden and the Pinelands National Reserve in Winslow Township.
County officials project the bridge will have a positive economic impact, generating $19.5 million in projected new tourism spending and benefitting local businesses and services.
Ludwig estimated construction will begin by the spring of 2023 and will require some nighttime lane closures on Admiral Wilson Boulevard.
A second bridge to be constructed later will be an elevated crosswalk over Route 130 and will connect the county golf driving range and Cooper River Park at North Park Drive in Pennsauken. The elevated pathway for hikers and bikers will eliminate the need to cross the heavily traveled highway at crosswalks.
A hearing on the second bridge, a larger undertaking awarded a $3.2 million state grant, will be held next year, but no date has been set. The elevated crosswalk also needs approval from the historic preservation office within the state Department of Environmental Protection, according to Sworaski.
The Cuthbert Boulevard bridge farther upriver in Cooper River Park and connecting Cherry Hill with Collingswood already has walkways that are used by bicyclists and pedestrians.
This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Cooper River bridge to connect Camden County NJ trails, parks
