Delaware River Skyway In Limbo

22 July 2004 - 6:00am

An aerial link could shuttle tourists between Philadelphia and Camden, bringing new income to the cash-strapped cities. Critics claim the whole scheme could be yet another boondoggle along the waterfront.

While popular in Europe, aerial trams have failed to break into the mainstream American transit market. The Delaware River Port Authority, operated by Pennsylvania and New Jersey, hopes to pour millions of dollars into a skyway system that would run between the Philadelphia and Camden, NJ, waterfronts. Critics contend that the already constructed bridges and ferries make the tram redundant and wasteful. Though Camden, long one of the poorest cities in American, shows some signs of rebirth, Penn's Landing in Philadelphia remains separated from the city by an urban renewal-era highway. Many Pennsylvanians think reconnecting Penn's Landing to downtown will be more beneficial to the city than an aerial gondola to New Jersey.

Source: USA Today, July 21, 2004
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I argue that the vocabulary of planning and the concepts necessary to participate in local government and planning issues need to be taught to students in K-12.