©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Mount Airy USA to save 100-year-old bridge
Trestle that spans Germantown Avenue in Mount Airy could be part of proposed Cresheim Trail
by KRISTIN PAZULSKI

Artists Howard Coale, of Mt. Airy, and Stacy Levy created a design for the train trestle spanning Germantown Avenue, on the border of Mt. Airy and Chestnut Hill. The trestle will soon be owned by Mount Airy USA and possibly used in the proposed Cresheim Bike Trail. (Photo by Kristin Pazulski)

The train trestle that spans Germantown Avenue at the border of Chestnut Hill and Mount Airy is expected to change ownership and be placed in the hands of Mount Airy USA and possibly be used as a part of the proposed Cresheim Bike Trail.

The 103-year-old bridge, was part of a six-and-a-half-mile rail track called the Fort Washington Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad that began running on July 30, 1893, according to The Chestnut Hill and Fort Washington Branches, an information booklet compiled by the Philadelphia Chapter of the Pennsylvania Railroad Technical and Historical Society. The rail is no longer operational.

The trestle is currently owned by PECO, which was going to tear it down because of liability and ownership issues, said Pamela Smith-Chavis, spokesperson for State Sen. Leanna Washington.

PECO was unwilling to transfer ownership directly to Mount Airy USA, said Farah Jimenez, president of Mount Airy USA. They wanted to first go through a government agency, but inquiries to city departments were met with refusals, she said, the last one coming just this June. Washington was able to get the groups to a preliminary agreement in less than a month.

Mount Airy USA could gain ownership of the bridge in about a year, four years after the organization teamed with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s Philadelphia Green and the city’s Mural Arts Program, both of which secured funding for the bridge’s design through Mayor John Street’s Neighborhood Transformation Initiative.

“We wanted to turn [the bridge] into something we can prize and treasure,” Jimenez said.

The bridge is also a “key ingredient to the Cresheim Trail,” said Jimenez, a proposed trail that will link Montgomery County and Philadelphia through Fairmount Park.

The advisory council — consisting of representatives from Mount Airy USA, local neighbors, Society Created to Reduce Urban Blight, the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, city Mural Arts Program and Philadelphia Green — will be planning the landscaping and working to get the bill boards around that bridge removed. A design was already completed by neighborhood-chosen artists Howard Coale, of Mt. Airy, and Stacy Levy. The project should take a few years to plan and implement, said Jimenez. The project is estimated to cost from $200,000 to $300,000; some state, federal and regional funding has already been raised for the project, Jimenez said.

Contact staff writer Kristin

Pazulski at 215-248-8819 or Kristin@ChestnuthillLocal.com.