Written By Scott Everett

We received word just before Christmas that the D&L has been awarded very competitive Transportation Enhancement Act (TEA) funding in the amount of $488,750 for trail construction in Lehigh and Northampton counties.

An artistic rendering of the proposed North Catty trailhead

The funds will be used to build the section of the D&L Trail from the Hokendauqua Creek pedestrian bridge in Northampton to the North Catasauqua trailhead. This will dovetail with the existing funding we have for the trail from North Catasauqua to Allentown—portions that are currently being designed.

This is historically significant section of the Lehigh Canal and Lehigh River. The canal traveled south from Northampton, bringing boats to a slack part of the river. The iron industry thrived for a time on both sides of the river with the Crane Iron Works in Catty and the Thomas Iron Works in Hokey. In addition, several railroad spurs were located in the area.

An unimproved stretch of the North Catty trail section

The main focus of this project will be to handle infrastructure issues, stabilize the trail, and hopefully surface the entire length.

Stay tuned for more details.

Written By H. Scott Everett, D&L Trail Manager

Forgive me if I do not wish for a white Christmas this year and hope for a mild winter. I am pleased to let everyone know that work has begun on the section of D&L Trail from Laury’s Station to Slatington, a distance of 6.5 miles. The scope of work also includes the construction of a new trailhead at Cove Road, immediately south of the Route 145 bridge near Treichlers.

The new section of the D&L Trail between Slatington and Laury's Station is now under construction.

The project is being undertaken by Lehigh County with the D&L providing design, survey, permitting funding and project management. This is the third project under this partnership – the first two being the section of trail near the Lehigh Gap Nature Center and the section of recently completed trail from Cementon to Laury’s.

The new Cove Road trailhead on the D&L Trail.

In addition, work has also restarted on the building at the Slatington Trailhead. The D&L has designed and received permitting to finish the trailhead in the Spring of 2011.

I am very excited about construction of this section of trail. When added to the other completed sections north of this project and the additional three miles to be constructed early next year from the county line north, trail users will now have a continuous length of approximately 15 miles.

New slate restroom facilities are under construction at the Slatington trailhead.

This section of trail will expose users to sections of the Lehigh River previous inaccessible due to private property issues. Headed northward, users will be able to connect to the Slate Heritage Trail, AT and the new Lehigh County boat launch just south of the Lehigh Gap Nature Center.

I will post updates and photo as the project progresses.

Written By Silas Chamberlin

When completed, the East Coast Greenway (ECG) will provide a 3,000-mile link between northern Maine and Key West, with stops in every major city along the way. In a sense, you can think of the ECG an urban Appalachian Trail that will provide open space, recreation, and transportation to tens of millions of people. The ECG enters southeastern Pennsylvania at Morrisville via the recently-rehabbed Calhoun Street Bridge and continues south along the D&L Trail on the Delaware Canal towpath towards the Bristol Spur Line and Schuylkill River Trail.

Volunteers from Vanguard Insurance commit time and energy to the D&L Trail.

After passing through downtown Philadelphia, the 55-mile Pennsylvania section passes into Delaware. This is an ambitious project, and, currently, only about 25% of the proposed route is on safe, traffic-free paths. There are, however, dozens of projects currently under development that will increase that percentage, and we see progress on the overall project every year.

Volunteers remove invasive plants adjacent to the Delaware Canal.

While awaiting the completion of all 3,000 miles, the maintenance of the existing sections continues. Recently, a group of volunteers from Vanguard Insurance spent their Saturday morning clearing 50 square yards (!) of invasive plants from an area adjacent to the D&L Trail, near Black Rock Road in Lower Makefield Township. Invasive species take over native plants, depriving animals and insects of food sources, causing problems with erosion, and reducing biodiversity. Removing the invasives will allow the natural flora to grow back—but it takes a lot of work over a period of years. Thanks to the Vanguard volunteers this site is well on its pace to recovery.

Tour participants make their way through Historic Bristol Borough.

In other ECG news, a guided group tour, led by the PA East Coast Greenway Alliance, visited the D&L Trail and two of the Landmark Towns on Saturday, October 16th. Twenty-six cyclists began the trip from Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station, boarded a private Septa train northbound, and proceeded southward by bicycle. Sites along the way included the Delaware Canal State Park, historic Bristol Borough waterfront (on Historic Bristol Day, no less!), Neshaminy State Park, Glen Foerd Estate, Pennypack on the Delaware, and Penn Treaty Park. The cost of participation in the tour included Septa tickets, bike services, and a boxed lunch, and the proceeds will support the Alliance’s work on the ECG.

The ship is sailing! It’s now or never to hop aboard next week’s Lehigh Valley Trails Summit.

Set for September 30 and October 1 at DeSales University, the two-day event sponsored by the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor, Inc. and Wildlands Conservancy offers a wealth of indoor and outdoor workshops on trail planning, design, building, marketing, and maintenance.

Instructors are leaders in their respective fields from state and local governments, conservation organizations and local businesses. DeSales offers a technologically advanced venue on Day One, with brilliantly designed workshop and lecture rooms. Day Two’s mobile workshops are scheduled for Lehigh Gap Nature Center, the D&L Trail in Bethlehem, and the Trexler Nature Preserve in Lehigh County.

The entire two-day package including food, bus transportation, and conference materials is a very low $35 per person. To view and print the Summit schedule and registration materials, follow this link.

For more information, contact Sherry Acevedo at the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor: (610) 923-3548, ext. 226 or sherry@delawareandlehigh.org.

Registration forms can be FAXed to 610-377-5023 or e-mailed to Sandra Duda at sandra@delawareandlehigh.org.

Sign up now!

Last Friday, Northern Lehigh Future Focus (NLFF) and the Borough of Slatington held two press conferences—one to unveil five interpretive panels along the Slate Heritage Trail and a second to dedicate two kiosks at the Slatington Trailhead of the D&L Trail. All of the signs had been produced in partnership with the D&L, who paid half the cost of the signs with a DCNR grant and offered technical support for writing and designing the signs.  The Slatington signage joins over 500 signs produced by the  D&L through our Visually Speaking signage program.

Robert Stettner of Northern Lehigh Future Focus dedicates the new signage.

The five interpretive signs along the Slate Heritage Trail had been in the works for a few years. Nick Sander, then a Kutztown history major, and Dave Altrichter, a local historian, did most of the preliminary research and writing of the text a couple of years ago but nothing more was done with the materials, and the signs were put on hold. Within the last year, NLFF, a local community group, spearheaded the effort to see them through to completion. As a result, Marilyn and Buddy Kaul, with whom the D&L has worked on signage related to the Walnutport Canal, began supplying historical images and text ideas to Amey Senape—our historic resource specialist. Amey helped compile the materials, rework the text to fit word limits and layout requirements, and usher the signs through the production process. Friday’s unveiling, therefore, was the culmination of a long process that involved the D&L, NLFF, the Northern Lehigh Historical Society, and the Borough of Slatington. The result is an attractive series of signs that interpret Slatington’s rich community and industrial history.

Nick Sander unveils one of the interpretive signs he helped author.

The kiosks at the trailhead had followed a more typical path between conception and completion. Two of the panels—Exploring the Corridor and From Rails to Trails—came from the D&L and explain the basics of the D&L and the process of converting old rail beds to trails. The third panel was designed by Northern Lehigh Future Focus and features a detailed regional map that shows trail connections and former railroad lines. The larger kiosk also includes a bulletin case for trail and community information. These two kiosks are only the latest edition to a popular trailhead. Located at the intersection of the Slate Heritage and D&L trails, the trailhead is within walking or riding distance of most Slatington and Walnutport residents. When the trail section between Slatington and Laurys Station is completed by Lehigh County and the D&L, the Slatington Trailhead will serve as a prime spot for launching long distance hikes and bikes to the north and south.

Silas Chamberlin, Gary Fedorcha, and Dale Freudenberger pose in front of one of the new kiosks.

As part of my remarks at the press conferences, I noted that Slatington is a model for how a community can embrace trails to improve the lives of residents and attract visitors. With two multi-use trails in town, the Appalachian Trail a mile or so to the north, Lehigh Gap Nature Center’s nearby footpaths, and the Walnutport section of the D&L Trail across the river, Slatington is becoming a regional destination for people who want high-quality trail experiences.  Now the trail experiences of residents and visitors alike will be enriched by the new signage.

Interested in signage for your site?  Visit the signage section of the website, and contact us for more information.