On track
The long-awaited Green Ribbon Trail connection
between Fairmount Park and Fort Washington State Park
is finally set to become a reality
by MIKE BENIGNO
A two-phase construction project set to begin as early as this fall will link Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park trail system with the Montgomery County trails, while widening a section of Northwestern Avenue to include a lane for joggers and bicyclists.
“We’re building on what is already an extraordinarily popular trail,” said John Wood, chief of open space planning for Montgomery County. “Our idea is to finally make the historic connection between Fairmount Park and the Fort Washington State Park in the Whitemarsh Valley.”
The project is funded with monies set aside by Montgomery County to improve the trails, and Wood said the first stage of the work — the widening of Northwestern Avenue near Chestnut Hill College — would allow trail users coming out of Chestnut Hill to continue past Bruno’s Restaurant into Flourtown.
He said a section of the walkway would be built partially on the side of property owned by the Morris Arboretum, adding that the work would be performed with the use of labor from the Montgomery County Roads and Bridges Department, the Philadelphia Parks Department, and also a small amount of bid work that would be issued to other contractors.
Wood cited reports from individuals with children who said that section of road was particularly uncomfortable to jog, walk or ride on, adding that an extension might also encourage the more active local merchants and workers to bike to work, instead of driving.
Wood said that the widening would not be much more than five feet on the Montgomery County side and three to four feet on the Philadelphia side. No utility poles will be touched and no work will touch the walls of Chestnut Hill College property, he said.
By next year, work will begin on a project that would extend the existing trail, making a connection from Stenton Avenue at Northwestern Avenue up to Fort Washington State Park.
The new two-mile section would involve improvements made to existing sidewalks, changing several road signs and the creation of a one-mile-long section of brand new trailway.
A leg of the trail running along West Valley Green Road near the Philadelphia Cricket Club will require a crossing of Lorraine Run, a small tributary of the Wissahickon. In an unusual arrangement, the county will provide Whitemarsh Township with funds to build a temporary access bridge for emergency vehicles while the main bridge over the stream is being rebuilt as part of a previously scheduled project. At the completion of repairs, the access bridge will be retained as a pedestrian walkway for the trail.
The township is paying to widen the culvert that will allow both bridges to exist side-by-side, money that would have had to be spent anyway as part of the repair project, Wood said. The work is expected to be completed this summer.
While Wood said it was too early to say exactly what month the actual groundwork would begin on the first part of the trail work, mentioning that several landowner issues are still being negotiated, he was enthusiastic about the projects.
“Montgomery County has been in the forefront of trail development in this region for a long time, since we started the Schuylkill River Trail way back in 1976.” He added that a second project, the 22-mile Perkiomen Trail, has been completed.
”Out of that has come a very exciting awareness of the importance of trails for recreating and for transportation. We’re providing, again, an exciting opportunity for the region, for people to ride for recreation and we’re doing something to provide alternative forms of transportation for commuters,” he said.
The Montgomery County Board of Commissioners will continue a major trail development plan that, by 2007, will extend the existing trails by a total of 30 extra miles.
For more information on the Montgomery County trail system, visit www.montcopa.org.
Editor James Sturdivant contributed to this report.
