Authored By: John Boyle | Research Director at the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia | January 27, 2026

This blog first published on the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia’s blog on January 26.

Joseph R. Syrnick, an accomplished civil engineer and devoted family man, passed away on January 17, 2026, at the age of 79.

Joe’s dedicated service and passionate energy over two decades to developing the Schuylkill River Trail in Philadelphia, otherwise known as Schuylkill Banks, resulted in an enduring legacy that reshaped the City’s urban landscape.

After the City’s industrial economy declined in the 1970s, the Schuylkill River waterfront south of the Art Museum in Philadelphia was vacant and dominated by the expressway on one side and the railroad on the other.  Although the river could be reached via city streets, its undeveloped condition was unwelcoming and largely inaccessible.  A vision for extending the Schuylkill River Trail south of the Art Museum was championed by John Randolph and other Fitler Square residents who created the Schuylkill River Development Council in the early 1990s.  (A full history of Schuylkill Banks can be found here).  SRDC was restructured into the Schuylkill River Development Corporation in 2002, around the same time as when the newly built trail between MLK Drive and Locust Street was opened.  A few years later, Joe was hired as SRDC’s new President.

Joe dedicated 34 years to the Streets Department, serving as Chief Engineer and Surveyor from 1986 until his retirement in 2005. Initially, the Streets Department frequently clashed with the Bicycle Coalition, a tension that peaked with the Walnut Street Bridge die-in in 1990. However, soon afterward, the partnership between the Coalition and Joe, along with the Streets Department, began to flourish. During his leadership, Philadelphia appointed Tom Branigan as the city’s first bicycle coordinator, who successfully established over 150 miles of bike lanes under the Rendell Administration. By 1995, Philadelphia boasted more bike lane miles than any other city in the nation.

Joe was involved at the beginning of the creation of Schuylkill Banks when the bulkheads were installed in the late 1990s.  His tenacity and drive to build out the trail and extend it southward made him an ideal leader.  And he became an ideal partner for the trail advocacy community who came together to push for preserving grade level access to Schuylkill Banks and the trail’s extension south of Locust Street toward the mouth of the Delaware River.  -Joe was an early proponent of the vision of the Circuit Trails and believed that the region’s trails were greater than the sum of their parts.

Joe’s engineering knowhow and familiarity of the inner workings of city, state and federal agencies, City Council and elected officials enabled SRDC to raise millions of dollars and see through multiple complicated capital projects, including the Grays Ferry Crescent, the Connector Bridge over the CSX railroad tracks, the Boardwalk, Bartram’s Mile, the Christian to Crescent Connector Bridge and the long-awaited (soon to open) Swing Bridge, the among many others.  Joe also committed himself to programming on the trail, by bringing movies, kayaking, fishfests, boat tours and other events to connect community members to the trail and the River.

Although passionate about Schuylkill Banks, Joe always gave the city and elected officials the credit for SRDC’s accomplishments.  At any public events, you could count on finding him at back of the crowd and nowhere near the microphones.

Joe Syrnick – Top center, keeping a low profile (2004 – Turning on the Schuylkill River Trail Lights with Mayor John Street)

Joe’s work to extend the Schuylkill River Trail created a first class piece of bicycling and walking infrastructure unlike anything in the Greater Philadelphia region.  For that, we as a community of bicyclists and walkers are truly grateful.