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Connecting Communities

The Schuylkill Banks: Christian to Crescent Cable-Stayed Bridge is a celebration of connection, collaboration, and community-focused design. With services encompassing landscape architecture, urbanism and planning, and engineering, AECOM, as lead designer, delivered this striking 650-foot-long, 25-foot-wide pedestrian bridge linking Philadelphia’s City Center section of the Schuylkill River Trail with the Grays Ferry Crescent.

Completed in May 2025, the bridge is part of a 4-mile constructed segment of Philadelphia’s planned 8-mile portion of the 128-mile Schuylkill River Trail, which will eventually provide a continuous route from Schuylkill County to the Delaware Bay. By creating a vital new link for cyclists and pedestrians between neighborhoods once divided by infrastructure and industry, the bridge closes an almost 15-year-old gap in the trail and reshapes how people move through the city.

The bridge reflects the Schuylkill River Development Corporation and the City of Philadelphia’s vision for a place-making, elegant, and functional landmark. The original straight alignment from the feasibility study was refined into graceful curves that enhance integration with the surrounding landscape and avoids critical site constraints. Its cable-stayed form, featuring lattice patterns inspired by the Brooklyn Bridge, combines technical ingenuity with architectural beauty, creating a memorable and community-focused riverfront crossing.

“The cable-stayed design allowed us to achieve a long, elegant span with minimal supports in the river,” said Bradley Touchstone, national practice lead for complex bridge architecture at AECOM. “The curves in the structure make the unique cable weave pattern possible, enhancing the bridge’s role as a symbol for the community.”

Several women played essential roles in the success of this landmark Philadelphia-area project. Landscape architect Keyleigh Kern developed the vision for the plantings around the bridge, integrating it into the surrounding area. “We worked closely with the bridge team, integrating plantings to embed the bridge into its surroundings and enhance ecological and visual continuity,” said Keyleigh.

AECOM’s Elizabeth Luchessi contributed to the approach design, and as an intern, Blaire Miran worked on the trail. Seeing an opportunity to introduce other aspiring women to the field of engineering, she arranged a tour of the project for WTS Philadelphia’s student chapter in April 2024.

The bridge is a graceful, innovative addition to Philadelphia’s riverfront, linking neighborhoods, trails, and landscapes while showcasing engineering excellence. It stands as a lasting, people-centered landmark that enhances connectivity and placemaking across the city.