Camden County Action Team Burlington-Camden Trail
April 2024 Update
Introduction
The Circuit Trail Network spans across 9 counties in the Greater Philadelphia Region with connections to regional trails north and south.
Green Lines = Existing Trails Blue Lines = Future Trails
The short term goal of the Circuit Trails Coalition is to attain 500 miles of open trails by 2025.
With 411 miles completed the Region will need to complete another 89 miles of trails over the next 2 years.
That averages out to about 10 miles for each county.
Camden County currently has 29 miles of trails officially open. 10 miles of trails that are identified as in progress (advanced development) and 11 miles that are in the pipeline (early development).
That means that the County has an excellent chance to build its share of Circuit Trails by 2025 if it can muster the political will to keep moving forward.
The planned route for the Burlington-Camden Trail parallels Route 537 which is already a known bike commuter route between Burlington County and Philadelphia.
Locals, visitors and commuters alike will enjoy a 5.5 mile paved shared use path between Maple Shade and the Delaware River.
As one local resident put it: “It would be amazing to use the route!”
We'll look at the corridor from west to east taking a look at the opportunities to build a major regional trail.
The Burlington-Camden Action Team, Camden Community Partnership and Camden are working to connect Stockton Station Park to Von Neida Park, the East Coast Greenway, Petty's Island Preserve, Cramer Hill Park and the Ben Franklin Bridge.
The partners are currently pursuing funding for a feasibility study.
Stockton Station Park
The existing trail in Stockton Station Park in the City of Camden is currently fenced-in and gated.
The Trust for Public Land and the City of Camden are currently working on replacing the gate at Stockton Station Park to allow for better access to the trail in the park.
This change was supported by 91% of residents as reported in community surveys.
Once the gate is replaced, the existing Stockton Station Park segment will be considered “open” rather than “in progress” on the official Circuit map.
The Action Team has been working with Camden Greenways, Inc. to host programming in and around Stockton Park to encourage more use of the existing trail segment.
32nd St to Euclid Ave
The gap between the two completed sections of trail is just over 3/4 mile.
The existing trail segment routes through Stockton Station Park and Dudley Grange Park, ending at 33rd St. From here the unused rail corridor continues into Pennsauken.
Conceptual renderings of the four block segment between 32nd and 36th Street in the City of Camden have been developed for residents to review and provide input for possible trail and park amenities.
36th St is a busy road crossing that needs attention to make it safe for trail users of all ages and abilities. Overhead rectangular rapid flashing beacons is one option to increase driver awareness of pedestrians using the trail.
New Sidewalks and croswalks along 36th Street will improve the pedestrian experience for everyone.
Pennsauken fully designed the gap from 32nd St. to Euclid Ave. and has secured funding to construct from Euclid to 36th St. A groundbreaking is expected to begin in late 2024.
The bridge over Route 130 today looking west from Chestnut and N 43rd St.
An overhead rendering at N 43rd and Chestnut looking west with a paved trail and landscaping.
The west side of the bridge over Route 130 looking south towards the Maple Ave Overpass
The Merchantville Mile
The Merchantville Mile is popular with local residents year-round. It is the longest completed section of the Burlington-Camden Trail
The path begins just two blocks east of the Route 130 Bridge
As the name suggests it is a mile long shared-use path in the Borough of Merchantville.
The Station cafe, a popular trail-side business.
Construction was completed in 2022 by the Borough of Merchantville to provide a more direct and safer crossing at Centre St. (raised intersection).
Cove Rd to Union Ave
Cove Rd to Bethel Ave
Construction was completed and Pennsauken officially cut the ribbon on the trail on December 14th.
The trail will share the street with Bethel Ave and then use the Maple Ave Bridge to cross the Atlantic City Line.
Pennsauken to Maple Shade
Beginning at Union Ave, the Burlington-Camden Trail shares the right of way with the Pemberton Industrial Track, an active rail line owned by Conrail.
In May 2021, a planning study was completed to evaluate a 2.2-mile portion of the trail in Pennsauken Township (in Camden County) and Maple Shade Township (in Burlington County). Because the study area is an active freight railroad, the shared-use trail evaluated is a “rail-with-trail” configuration, with the goal of maintaining rail operations while adding a trail facility to the railroad right-of-way.
In January 2022, an addendum to the planning study was provided to consider a grade-separated rail-with-trail crossing of Haddonfield Road (CR-644).
The Burlington-Camden Trail needs YOUR help to go from vision to reality!
Stay Involved and Be Active:
- Keep up to date on the project by joining our Burlington-Camden Trail facebook group
- Sign up for the Circuit newsletter . Select "Camden County" to learn about ways to get involved and event invites relevant to this project
- Word of mouth -- tell your friends!
