When the pope visits Philadelphia at the end of this month, tens, and perhaps even hundreds of thousands of people will be walking from Camden, over the Ben Franklin Bridge into the city of Brotherly Love to see him.

Pope Francis
Pope Francis (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
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Not surprisingly, that’s prompted safety and security concerns.

With so many people traveling through the city during the day into the evening, Camden County Police Department Captain Al Handy says steps are being taken to keep pedestrians safe during the long walk.

“We did initiate a nice safe corridor for people to travel, we’ll have obviously security, but other amenities as well, rest areas, EMS stations, hydration stations and things of that nature,” Handy said.

The captain said details of the safe corridor route will be announced at a press conference Wednesday.

“We want to provide an environment where those that are electing to attend the event have a nice, safe and enjoyable travel,” he said. “We’ll have officers assigned to man traffic control posts along the route and through our downtown area, safety is a top priority for us.”

Handy said all-hands-on-deck approach is being taken and many agencies are working together to make sure those attending the event are safe, including “the Camden County Prosecutors Office, the Sheriff’s Department, New Jersey Transit, New Jersey Department of Transportation, DRPA, New Jersey State Police all playing a very integral role.”

He said EMS stations will be set up along the safe route to help if anyone has a medical emergency or serious condition, since many worshippers are expected to be senior citizens and they’ll be walking for several miles across the bridge into Philly to get to the event.

“It’s obviously a challenging situation, so we thought it was important to make all of these facilities available," he said.

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