The Circuit Trails
Greater Philadelphia is the proud home of The Circuit Trails, a vast regional trail network, composed of hundreds of miles of interconnected trails, that is growing in size each year. One of America’s largest trail networks, The Circuit Trails is currently composed of more than 300 miles of completed trails with a vision of completing 750 miles of trails across the nine-county region in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Nearly 65 nonprofit organizations, foundations and agencies is working to advance the completion of The Circuit Trails. A premiere regional amenity, The Circuit Trails connect people to jobs, communities, parks and waterways.
Learn more at circuittrails.org and connect with The Circuit Trails on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to find out what is happening #onthecircuit.
Programs
To promote a more systematic approach to filling gaps and to highlight the need to advance trails serving under-resourced communities, PEC launched an effort in 2021 to inventory and analyze the almost 300 trail segments yet to be completed within the Circuit Trails network.
When completed, the Liberty Bell Trail will link to the Schuylkill River Trail in Norristown and provide the same connections that the Liberty Bell Trolley did nearly 70 years ago.
TrailOff offers GPS-activated audio storytelling for ten Circuit Trails in and around Philadelphia. Each of the immersive stories make your experience on trails more interactive and encourages engagement with your environment.
Trail Planning
PEC is working to expand trails throughout Southeastern Pennsylvania.
FEATURED POST
Redefining Trail Gaps
PEC’s recently published gap analysis of the Circuit Trails network is more than just a list of priority segments: it proposes a whole new way of thinking about trail projects in terms of social impact. On this episode of Pennsylvania Legacies, we hear from two members of the Circuit Trails Coalition’s task force on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion: Eleanor Horne of the Lawrence Hopewell Trail, and PEC’s Zhenya Nalywayko, who prepared the report.