CAMDEN, N.J. and PHILADELPHIA — Following the 2025 Philly Bike Ride, I did something I did in 2023 too – I bicycled across the Ben Franklin Bridge.

This time wasn’t as scary.

There are a few reasons for this:

• It wasn’t 49 and dizzily this time.
• I was on the inner portion of the footwalk.

Southern footwalk

Last time, only the northern footwalk was open. That meant pedaling in-bound on the river side of the trail.¹

This time, the southern footwalk was open, so I was able to pedal on the roadway side of the trail, instead of the river. That made a big difference. It was still a white knuckle ride, but not as much so.

The Southern footwalk is also completely accessible – I didn’t have to use stairs. That was most-welcome.

The views on the southern footwalk are better too, the skyline is not obscured by the bridge towers like on the northern side.

I took PATCO over from Philly this time too. It’d have been faster to just bike over on the northern footwalk and then back on the southern footwalk. If there’s a next time, that might be what I do.

Or I may just say, I’ve done it, no need to do again.

Footnote

1. Because I observe best practices – keep right, except to pass. ↩︎