Tyler Martin from Wilson Consulting Group discusses the SRT Phase 2 in Chester County with Bicycle Coalition membersDr. Michael Broennle, Gail Lipstein and Charles Marshall
On Wednesday, October 17th, Chester County Planning held an Open House in East Conventry to provide the public with an update on Phase 2 of the Schuylkill River Trail between Parker Ford at Linfield Road and the US 422 bridge over the Schuylkill River.
Phase 1 of the Schuylkill River Trail was constructed in 2012 with a stone surface. This project will resurface that 5.75 mile section with bituminous pavement and construct a new 4-mile shared use path (trail) on a former rail-bed and towpath. The 10-foot wide path will be paved with no grades greater than 5 percent.\
Phase 2 has been in the works for over a decade, with years spent acquiring necessary easements and right-of-way including an arrangement to repurpose a section of inactive railbed owned by Norfolk Southern. Additional permitting and environmental review were required including: National Environmental Policy Administration (NEPA) clearances and approval, natural resource coordination, Section 4(f) coordination, cultural resource coordination, threatened and endangered (T&E) species coordination and environmental permitting.
The project is projected to be advertised in Spring 2019 with an estimated construction timeline of 15 months. We are hopeful that these four new miles would open in late 2020.