It seems like every few months, we are hit with beautiful renderings of a Philadelphia future that looks amazing. Usually, it has something to do with the castle wall that separates us from the waterfront, I-95. This most recent rendering, seen above, shows us a lush, grass-filled, future where I-95′s current cover (between Front and Columbus), is extended to contain an 8-acre park called Penn’s Landing Park. And oh man does it look wonderful.

According to PlanPhilly, “The search is on for engineers and designers to figure out how to redevelop Penn’s Landing and connect it to the city – largely with an eight-acre park that would fully cover I-95 and Columbus Boulevard between Walnut and Chestnut streets, as well as slope down to the water.” The above rendering was extracted from the Master Plan for the Central Delaware, but the study and design work to be done by engineers and designers would include examining:

>> >A large, mixed-use development in what is now a Market Street parking lot. Additional space would be created by removing the Market Street scissor ramp structure.
>>> The extension of the South Street pedestrian bridge, which now ends on the west side of Columbus Blvd., to the southwest corner of the great water basin.
>>> Mixed-use development, including residences and restaurant barges, in and around the basin.”

The plan is in the very, very, early stages, and we won’t see any of this for years to come (if at all), but we can dream, can’t we? And so can you, engineer friends: You can submit your response to a Request for Qualifications here until March 4th. If you need us, we’ll be daydreaming about a goddamn 8-acre park on the waterfront.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 30th, 2013 at 1:40 pm.