Camden County LINK Trail Breaks Ground: $108M, 34-Mile Greenway

Construction is now officially underway on the Camden County LINK Trail, a $108 million, 34-mile greenway that will stretch from the Delaware River to the edge of the Pine Barrens, connecting urban neighborhoods, suburban downtowns and rural parkland across one of New Jersey’s most densely populated counties.

Officials gathered in Cherry Hill last week for the groundbreaking ceremony, marking the start of construction after nearly a decade of feasibility studies, public meetings and funding negotiations. The multiuse, off-road trail will run from the Benjamin Franklin Bridge in Camden City to the Atlantic County line in lower Winslow Township, serving as the primary spine for a broader countywide trail network.

Commissioner Jeff Nash, liaison to the Camden County Parks Department, called the moment historic. “Today is a truly historic day as we are formally beginning construction on the Camden County LINK Trail after almost a decade of feasibility studies, public meetings and securing funding,” Nash said. “The LINK Trail will provide residents throughout Camden County with access to passive recreation and enable them a safe and scenic path to walk, bike or run throughout our beautiful county.”

The trail will pass through urban, suburban and rural environments, linking municipal and county parks as well as several downtown business districts along its route. Advocates say that mix is precisely the point. A trail that only threads through open space is a recreational amenity. One that connects downtown corridors can drive foot traffic to local retailers and restaurants, particularly in communities that have historically struggled to attract private investment.

Federal money helped make the project possible. Congressman Donald Norcross said he helped secure $13.6 million through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. “This project will connect communities, support local businesses and give families more opportunities to walk, run and bike outdoors,” Norcross said.

The remaining funding came through a combination of state and county sources, with the New Jersey Department of Transportation and the State Historic Preservation Office both playing roles in the project’s development. Local mayors and municipal officials across Camden County worked alongside county commissioners to move the project through a planning process that stretched across multiple election cycles and budget years.

Assemblymen Bill Spearman and Bill Moen issued a joint statement praising the project’s potential economic and public health benefits. “This transformative project will connect our neighborhoods, promote a healthier lifestyle and deliver economic benefits to residents and business owners alike,” the two said.

The LINK Trail will also connect to something bigger. It will become part of the Circuit Trails Network, a planned interconnected system of multiuse trails spanning nine counties on both sides of the Delaware River in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. That regional connection matters because it positions the LINK Trail not just as a local amenity but as a link in a cross-river infrastructure network that could attract cyclists, runners and walkers from a wide geographic area.

For communities along the Camden County route, the economic case for trail investment is well-documented nationally. Studies of comparable trail networks have consistently found that proximity to multiuse trails increases residential property values and supports small business activity near trailheads. In a county where several municipalities are still working to stabilize commercial corridors that were hollowed out over decades of disinvestment, that potential matters.

The project also carries significance for public health. Camden County includes communities where residents face some of the highest rates of chronic disease in the state, conditions closely tied to limited access to safe outdoor spaces. A continuous, off-road trail that connects neighborhoods without requiring residents to navigate heavy traffic offers something that a gym membership or a park tucked at the edge of town cannot: accessible, everyday infrastructure for physical activity.

Construction timelines and phasing details were not disclosed at the groundbreaking, but the county has indicated that the full trail will eventually serve as the connective tissue for a network of shorter trails branching out across the county’s 37 municipalities. For a project that took the better part of ten years to reach a groundbreaking, residents will now be watching to see how quickly shovels in the ground translate into finished pavement and trail surface beneath their feet.