Today, 35 people stood for an hour in 20 degree cold to celebrate the completion of another 1200 feet (.25 miles) of the Circuit Trails! Crazy? Maybe, but I’d say you know you’re on a roll when municipal officials and staff, trail building partners, local residents, planning professionals, and media show-up!
Why was this morning’s ribbon-cutting exciting? The 1200 feet of Circuit Trails was the least of it. We “closed” a longstanding gap in the historic D&L Trail paralleling the Delaware Canal that is a PA DCNR State Park by constructing a safer pedestrian crossing of Green Lane, a side path, a controlled intersection at Route 13, and a long swath of sidewalk. All of this restores continuity to the old towpath trail severed by Route 13 widening back in the 1950’s.
Also really exciting is the partnerships on full display at the ribbon-cutting. Most important is the local township. The Council President, Craig Bowen, repeated that it was “a great day for Bristol Township,” and that the trail was an important asset for area residents. He said, “We are proud to make outdoor recreation safer and more accessible to residents of Bristol Township and throughout the region.”
Elissa Garofalo with the D&L National Heritage Corridor enthused that this was another piece in completing what will be the longest continuous trail in the Commonwealth. One day soon, trail pro’s from Bristol will be able to go all the way to Wilkes Barre unimpeded. For now, they can’t get past Falls Township (5 miles away) due to the three remaining “obstructions” on the trail that PEC and DCNR are working to close over the next three years.=
Andy Hamilton from the East Coast Greenway applauded the work by PEC and others to complete the ECG which in Pennsylvania is a key “trunk line” in the 750 mile Circuit Trails Network connecting far flung parts of metropolitan Philadelphia in both PA and New Jersey.
It takes a village … so other partners were the Bucks Transportation Management Association, the PA Department of Transportation, DCNR State Parks, the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, the Traffic Planning & Design (engineer/designers), the James D. Morrissey company (construction contractors), and not to be forgotten, the hard working staff from PEC – Tony Spagnoli and Jeffery Knowles who pushed the project along and brought together all the “loose ends” to tie the knot!
We’re definitely on a roll! Our rallying cry now is 500 miles built by 2025! We are going to do it – one project at a time!