By: EILEEN STILWELL • Courier-Post Staff • February 18, 2010

CAMDEN — Camden County will receive $5.8 million in federal stimulus money to construct two miles of bike paths through Camden to connect the suburbs to the waterfront and Philadelphia via the Benjamin Franklin Bridge.

That's nearly $3 million a mile.

Camden County's share is part of a $23 million, bistate grant to create a regional network of bike paths.

Philadelphia and surrounding counties will receive $17.2 million for the same purpose. The total grant is part of $1.5 billion in Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants that have been earmarked for improvements to roads, bridges, rail, ports, transit and intermodal facilities.

Though multiple agencies on both sides of the river collaborated on the application, Philadelphia's Deputy Transportation Commissioner Steve Buckley was the principal applicant. Together, the two states applied for $36 million to create 17 trails.

Work on the paths must be completed by 2012, said Jacob Gordon, general counsel for Cooper's Ferry Development Association, which will manage Camden County's share.

The grant, he said, will cover improvements to three trails:

Martin Luther King Boulevard from Cooper University Hospital to the waterfront (0.76 mile);

Pine Street from Haddon Avenue to New Camden Park behind Camden High School in Parkside to Farnum Park (0.74 miles);

Pearl Street to the Benjamin Franklin Bridge (0.51 miles).

A bike path already exists from North Park Drive in Pennsauken, around The Pub restaurant, to the south side of Admiral Wilson Boulevard. Still missing is a short link near a Hess gas station on the boulevard to 11th Street that would pass in front of a Campbell Soup Co. building that is under construction.

Though the grant does not cover this vital link, Gordon said he is confident the state Department of Transportation and the county will close the loop.

When the proposed trails are complete, a bicyclist will be able to pedal safely from the suburbs to the Camden Waterfront or Philadelphia from either side of Cooper River.

The grant does not include improvements to the steep metal stairway to the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, which can be a challenge for some bicyclists to reach the walkway.

Gordon credited New Jersey's Democratic Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez and U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews for writing strong endorsements for the grant.

"The federal funding will open access to the City of Camden and help spur the economy," Lautenberg said. "Creating this new pedestrian and bicycle pathway between Camden and Philadelphia will benefit the environment by reducing traffic and make Camden a better place to live and work."

The grant is coming at a good time.

In July, about 400 cyclists from Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, a national, nonprofit advocacy group, will begin a weeklong trek at the Battleship New Jersey at Wiggins Park in Camden. The 250-mile ride will travel over the bridge to the Schuylkill River Trail, loop to Allentown, then Trenton, ending up back in Camden via the River LINE.

The purpose of the annual ride is to highlight good trail access and links that still need to be made.

"I am very excited for Rails-to-Trails to highlight our region. It's the best way for us to change perceptions and to showcase all that we've done in the city," Gordon said.

U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the federal agency received more than 1,400 applications requesting funds for almost $60 billion worth of projects in all 50 states, as well as U.S. territories and the District of Columbia.

Awardees were selected based on contributing to the economic competitiveness of the nation, improving safety and the condition of the existing transportation system, increasing quality of life, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and demonstrating strong collaboration among a broad range of participants, including the private sector, LaHood said.

Projects were funded in large cities as well as rural and tribal communities across the country and were selected based on merit. The winning projects highlighted the diversity of transportation needs throughout the U.S. from grand Moynihan Station in New York City, which will carry millions of train and subway riders each year, to "the most beautiful drive in America" -- Wyoming's Beartooth Highway.

They ranged from billion dollar freight rail corridors in the Midwest and South, to bridge repairs in Oklahoma and South Carolina to port projects in Maine and Hawaii. TIGER funds will also make safety improvements to a key highway in New Mexico Najavo country and spur economic growth in Appalachia through the Appalachian Regional Short Line Rail Project.