Philadelphia and Camden will be sharing $23 million from a federal government to extend, connect and create bicycle and pedestrian paths in both areas.
This means jobs and green mobility in Philadelphia, said Andrew Stober, director of strategic initiatives for the mayor’s office of transportation.
“It will mean jobs for the city,” Stober told NBCPhiladelphia.com. “Engineering jobs, design jobs, construction jobs.”
Philadelphia will be getting $17.2 million of the grant, while the remaining $5.8 million is going to the Cooper’s Ferry Development Association in Camden, Stober said.
The network of paths will connect the two cities, as well as many areas in the Eastern Pennsylvania and South Jersey region.
“This is a giant leap forward for Philadelphia,” Campaign Director for the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia Sarah Clark Stuart told NBCPhiladelphia.com.
“We’re really excited about this,” said Stuart. “It will make a multi-use path for truly sustainable green transportation corridor out to the suburbs.”
More than $56 billion worth of requests from across the country went to the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant funding, but there was only $1.5 billion given out. Philadelphia and Camden, which applied for the grant jointly, were fortunate to be among the recipients, Stober said.
Though Stober doesn’t know the timeline or the game plan for use of the grant yet, as they were only just notified 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, he wants to start immediately.
“We’re going to be starting right away,” Stober said. “The economy needs the jobs and we want these paths out there for the citizens to use.”
