$60M in trail projects in Manayunk, Chester, and Camden in ‘limbo’ under DOGE scrutiny

Schuylkill Trail users rejoiced earlier this year with the announcement of a federal grant to build the proposed Wissahickon Gateway.

The new trail segment, which had just been awarded federal money, would provide a paved path allowing walkers, runners, and cyclists to circumvent the busy nexus of roads around Ridge Avenue and Main Street in Manayunk.

Now, that $14 million grant is one of five trail projects in Philadelphia, Chester City, and Camden County that could be in the crosshairs of the Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE), the agency formerly led by Elon Musk.

Advocates for trails in the Philly region say the U.S. Department of Transportation, which had already approved the grants, has not signed contracts or made payments toward them.

“We were trying to close 2025 with a big bang,” said Patrick Starr, chair of the nonprofit Circuit Trails Coalition. “We’ve been trying to build 500 miles of circuit trails by the end of 2025. It looked like we would be resolving problems around really gnarly, complicated trail connections that we’ve been talking about for years.”

The projects would have greatly enhanced safety for walkers and cyclists because they bypass traffic, Starr said.

“We finally achieved the funding needed to solve those problems,” Starr said. “It’s very frustrating.”

The U.S. Department of Transportation, which had approved the grants prior to President Donald Trump taking office in January, did not respond to The Inquirer’s request for comment. Some projects had been awarded grants years ago.

The projects, when complete, would become part of the Circuit Trails, a planned 850-mile network of trails across the Philadelphia region and South Jersey. About 411 miles have been built and the new segments would have added to that.

Starr said officials have not been able to get answers from the DOT on why contracts have not been signed, which would trigger release of the funds.

“What I’ve heard from our partners is that the line has gone dead,” Starr said.

Starr said the following trail segments have not received promised funds totaling about $60 million:

$13.7 million for the Wissahickon Gateway, which would connect Philadelphia’s Schuylkill River Trail from Manayunk to Passyunk Avenue. It was to be funded by the Active Transportation Infrastructure Investment Program (ATIIP), and provide a safe connector. Currently, walkers and cyclists must share a narrow sidewalk outside a SEPTA transit center to navigate the intersection.

» READ MORE: $14 million project will connect the Schuylkill River Trail to Manayunk and Passyunk Ave.

$23.3 million for the Reaching the Steps project, which would transform Eakins Oval through a former Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant, now called BUILD under Trump. The trails segment would increase safety and access at the oval in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

$2 million for the Richmond Industrial Trail, from American Street to Aramingo Avenue in Philadelphia, and funded through a Reconnecting Communities Program (RCP) grant, which would transform a freight rail corridor into a path.

$2.5 million for PA 291 East Coast Greenway / 9-11 National Memorial Trail in Chester and funded by a Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods (RCN) grant. Safety improvements would allow Route 291 to reconnect residents to jobs along the waterfront and the Port of Chester.

$19 million for the planned 34-mile Camden LINK Trail through a RAISE grant. The grant was to go toward an initial section of the trail that would start at the Ben Franklin Bridge and ultimately run through 17 towns, ending in Winslow Township.

Starr said the Circuit Trails Coalition has reached out to local U.S. representatives, as well as Sens. John Fetterman and Dave McCormick in Pennsylvania and Sens. Andy Kim and Cory Booker in New Jersey, seeking help, with mixed responses.

Carlile Soldo, a spokesperson for Fetterman, said the office has no record of a letter the coalition said it sent. Soldo said, however, that the office will reach out to the DOT.

Representatives for McCormick and Kim did not respond to The Inquirer’s request for comment.

“The real question is why — why is it on hold?” Starr asked.

The Circuit Trails coalition said all five grants are paused pending DOT review to see if they align with administration priorities. It is part of a wider review of grants awarded under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, that was signed by President Joe Biden in 2021.

It is possible some of the Circuit Trail grants run contrary to the Trump administration’s stances on environmental justice and climate science; or that the projects no longer fit in with the DOT’s retreat to vehicle-centric infrastructure.

Kevin Mills, a vice president at the nonprofit Rails to Trails Conservancy, which is seeking to build a national network of trails, said only about 10% of grants that have been frozen for review have moved forward.

Trail-related grants approved under the Biden administration are under review as part of the Trump administration’s attempt to downsize government through DOGE, which also seeks to weed out programs that do not align with the administration’s priorities.

“When the administration came into office, they very quickly put a freeze on lots of different funding in lots of different policy arenas,” Mills said. “Of course, every administration wants to control how resources are spent. Normally, when an administration comes in, it’s forward looking. In this case, they made the unusual move of reaching back and saying we want to take a look at grants made by the prior administration.”

Nearly five months into the Trump administration, a “lot of people are in limbo,” Mills said.

He said a March Department of Transportation internal memo had infrastructure for bicycles as a concern.

“To be precise, $38.7 million in federal dollars were awarded in January for Circuit Trails projects in Pennsylvania,” Mills said. “But since January, and with the arrival of the new federal administration, it’s like someone hit pause — and lost the remote."