Dignitaries Open a New Section of the Shawmont Trail

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter was on-hand Thursday morning along with U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah and City Councilman Curtis Jones for a ribbon cutting ceremony opening a new segment of the Shawmont Trail.

The trail recently underwent a $1.4 million rennovation widening the trail and making it more accessible.

"This project was funded with a TIGER grant from the federal government," Nutter said.  "When people ask me about TIGER grants they may not know what they stand for, but I always tell them people walk on them, they drive on them and they put people back to work.

TIGER stands for Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, and they were grants given as part of the federal stimulus bill passed under the Obama administration.

"This is just part and parcel of the over $1 billion in recovery money that has come into this city," Fattah said.  "It was that money that made this project possible."

The newly opened Trail segment runs from Shawmont to Port Royal Avenue and it is the final section of the Schuylkill River Trail in Philadelphia.