Saint Joseph’s University’s Post Crossing is a 21-foot-wide, ADA-accessible pedestrian underpass beneath City Avenue, linking the West Philadelphia and Lower Merion sides of Hawk Hill. Opened to the public on September 26, 2024, it combines a direct campus route with a bridge solution shaped by a shallow sewer main and construction staged to limit traffic disruption. ENR East named it a 2026 Best Projects winner in the Best Landscape/Urban Development category.
What Post Crossing connects
City Avenue divided Saint Joseph’s Hawk Hill campus between its West Philadelphia and Lower Merion sides. Post Crossing carries a shared-use path beneath the avenue, connecting the campus quads without requiring pedestrians to cross the roadway at grade. Saint Joseph’s describes the route as 21 feet wide and ADA accessible. The university says it is intended for students, faculty and staff, as well as people in neighboring communities who use campus for recreation. Saint Joseph’s University project page
The university reports that the underpass opened to the public on September 26, 2024; its opening announcement was published October 1. The project page now describes it as complete and open. University opening announcement
How the design addressed the site
A direct route across a skewed crossing
ENR describes a 33-foot-long, single-span bridge carrying City Avenue over the path. The crossing is set on a 70-degree skew to align the underpass with the campus quads, rather than forcing the route into a less direct connection. ENR East 2026 Best Projects entry
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A sewer main beneath the roadway
A 36-inch sewer main lay 15 feet below grade, making a conventional deep bridge arrangement difficult. ENR reports that relocating the sewer would have required nearly 1,000 feet of reconstruction in rock. Instead, the team used shallow 20-inch prestressed Northeast Extreme Tee (NEXT) beams, raised the roadway profile and lowered or flattened a section of the sewer line. Those coordinated adjustments allowed the roadway to pass over the new pedestrian opening without the extensive sewer reconstruction described in ENR’s account. ENR East 2026 Best Projects entry
How construction was staged
To reduce effects on traffic along City Avenue, the project used top-down accelerated bridge construction, assembling the structure in half-widths. ENR reports that the foundations included 64 drilled H-piles embedded in bedrock with reinforced-concrete drilled caissons. The H-piles served as both permanent foundations and excavation support.
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Precast abutment caps, NEXT beams and integral structural deck slab caps were joined with ultra-high-performance concrete. A polyester polymer concrete overlay formed the roadway riding surface. These details are reported by ENR’s project entry. ENR East 2026 Best Projects entry
From underpass to finished campus edge
The work extended beyond the bridge opening. ENR includes streetscape reconstruction, stormwater-management upgrades, and integrated lighting and architectural improvements in the project scope. Described finishes include cast-stone arch portals, stone veneer, suspended architectural ceilings, architectural shotcrete with glass-fiber-reinforced-concrete elements, and stone pavers. ENR East 2026 Best Projects entry
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Madison Concrete Construction’s October 2024 project account specifically describes shotcrete substrate work and GFRC lettering and graphics within its scope; that trade account should not be read as a description of every contractor’s work. Madison Concrete Construction project account
Project team, award and funding
ENR East’s 2026 Best Projects entry places Post Crossing in the Best Landscape/Urban Development category. It lists Saint Joseph’s University as owner, Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. as lead design firm, architect and engineer of record, and AP Construction Inc. as design-builder. Saint Joseph’s project page lists Jacobs Engineering as designers and A/P Construction as contractor. ENR East project entry Saint Joseph’s University project page
Rank #4
The university says PennDOT and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania each committed $3 million, for $6 million in public funding. Post Crossing was named for Saint Joseph’s alumnus John R. Post ’60; the university’s cited project information does not state the amount of his naming gift. Saint Joseph’s University project page University naming announcement
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What is known about use
Madison Concrete Construction reported an expectation of more than 1,500 users per day. That figure is a forecast, not a measured post-opening count; the cited sources do not establish how many people currently use the underpass. Madison Concrete Construction project account
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