Interstate 95 has cut river ward residents off from the Delaware River, but now the community is ready to take the river back.

About 100 community members gathered in Port Richmond’s Campbell Square Park the evening of May 25 and enjoyed pizza and water ice while learning about plans to make the river safely accessible again with recreation trails and parks, as well as designs for public access under and along I-95.

“Port Richmond people get to the river in a roundabout way,” said Sarah Thorp, master planning manager with the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation. “There’s no legal spot if you want to go to the river, other than through Pulaski Park.”

Her agency is trying to change that.

After 17 months of planning and designing, DRWC will unveil the final draft of the master plan for the Central Delaware River waterfront at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, June 13 at the pavilion at Festival Pier.

The project aims to enhance six miles of waterfront between I-95 and the river and between Allegheny Avenue at the north and Oregon Avenue at the south.

The plans include recreation trails, improving connections to the river through I-95, developing the highway underpasses and finding uses for the land under the highway.

The DRWC will also partner with Philadelphia Parks and Recreation to improve Pulaski Park and work with private property owners to implement parks planned along the waterfront at Berks, Cumberland and Lehigh to increase access to the river.

Mayor Nutter is scheduled to attend the June 13 meeting, and Thorp urged residents to attend as well.

“You can really make a difference if you come out and show support for this project,” she said.

Tom Branigan, executive director of the Delaware River City Corporation, shared plans for the North Delaware Riverfront Greenway, an 11-mile system of trails and parks along the river that will run through Port Richmond, Bridesburg, Wissinoming, Tacony, Holmesburg and Torresdale.

The Port Richmond Trail will be a 12-foot wide asphalt path, going east from the intersection of Richmond Street and Allegheny Avenue to Delaware Avenue and turning north to Lewis Street. Allegheny and Delaware avenues will be narrowed and beautified with trees and plantings, with the trail on one side of the street.

Groundbreaking for the Port Richmond Trail is expected to be this fall, with a target completion date of summer 2012. The entire North Delaware Riverfront Greenway is slated to be finished within five years.

The greenway project is part the East Coast Greenway, a 3,000-mile bicycle trail from Maine to Florida.

“We’re looking forward to some wonderful changes along the river in the coming five years,” Branigan said.

Also at the gathering, Marian Hull, a representative of PennDOT’s engineering and construction team, showed designs for improvements along the I-95 Girard Avenue interchange.

Calling it a “ginormous project,” Hull outlined a multi-phase plan that begins in the fall with the construction of new Conrail bridges along Richmond Street, which will have a higher clearance and provide more sunlight.

The subsequent phases are in the design or public comment stages. They include: the creation of a garden path and garden wall along the west and east sides of I-95; the beautification of underpasses; the construction of a park where a highway ramp at Columbia Street and Delaware Avenue now exists; pedestrian waterfront connections and the development of spaces under the highway for public use such as playgrounds, dog parks, sports courts and splash parks.

The event was sponsored by Port Richmond on Patrol and Civic and the New Kensington Community Development Corporation and moderated by Patty-Pat Kozlowski. Laura Lanza of PROPAC said they hope to have another informational event such as this one later this year.

After the presentations, Janice Tertel of Edgemont and Westmoreland streets said she was concerned about heavy trucks that come down Westmoreland, which is a no-truck roadway, instead of using Delaware Avenue. A trail is planned for Westmoreland.

“We love all of these ideas, if the trucks can be forced back onto Delaware Avenue,” Tertel said while sitting at a picnic table with several neighbors and her black Lab.

“I’m excited,” she said. “I can’t wait for it.”