January 20, 2017
Thom Carroll/PhillyVoice
The Schuylkill River Trail runs along the eastern banks of the Schuylkill River as it passes through Philadelphia.
A portion of the Schuylkill River Trail along Kelly Drive is slated to reopen Friday night after being closed for seven weeks.
The popular trail has been closed from Paine's Park to the Race Street entrance since Dec. 6 while workers reconstructed a 75-foot section of the Schuylkill River wall.
The construction forced the myriad bicyclists, runners and walkers who use the trail on a detour that took them down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, south on 22nd Street and east on Race Street, where they eventually reconnected to the trail.
A portion of Martin Luther King Drive also will reopen. The eastbound lane had been closed at times during the during the day and overnight between Sweet Briar Drive to Eakins Oval.
The Schuylkill River wall needed to be reconstructed after a portion failed on Aug. 23, 2016, collapsing into the river. Some of the soil supported by the wall also fell into the river, leaving the area unstable. The river's tide and storms were expected to cause further erosion and damage had the repairs not been done.
