New park along the Delaware is underway

City officials got out their ceremonial shovels to turn the first symbolic scoops of dirt for Lardner’s Point Park, a riverfront project offering visitors improved access to the rapidly rebounding Delaware River.

The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is spending $760,000 on the new 4.5 acre-park, located north of Center City and just south of the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge in the historic Tacony neighborhood of Northeast Philadelphia.

“The Delaware River has come so far from decades past,” said DCNR Deputy Secretary John Giordano, speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony. “Its rebound draws boaters and anglers. Its shores are appealing to hikers and bikers. And its river neighborhoods once again are realizing the economic and aesthetic impact of its historic riverfront.

“With its improved quality there must be improved access,” Giordano said. “Lardner’s Point Park will prove an invaluable asset to generations discovering the renewed value of the Delaware. Not only will it be a gateway to greater visitation and, in turn, economic growth along the river, it will further promote the health and social benefits gained from recreation.”

This new park expands Philadelphia’s public park system and is in line with the city’s Green 2015 Plan to create 500 new acres of open space and parkland. Lardner’s Point Park will serve as a trailhead for the North Delaware Greenway, the national East Coast Greenway bike trail running along the entire Delaware Riverfront in Philadelphia, and eventually all the way from Maine to Florida.

The park also will link to the bi-state Delaware River Heritage Trail that will loop over the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge north to Trenton and south to the new park site.

DCNR’s grant will support construction of a river overlook; fishing pier; restoration of a riverbank forest area for picnicking and recreation; park furniture; and informative signage about trees, bird and fish species, and the history of the Lardner’s Point Pump Station. Also, the park will recreate an enlarged natural river edge with expanded tidal wetlands.

“As a resident of Philadelphia, I have witnessed firsthand the resurgence of this river, its heightened popularity, and how important these things are to reinvigorating the local economy,” Giordano said.

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