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WRIGHT TWP. — A trail linking Wilkes-Barre to Easton is projected to be finished by 2020, officials said Tuesday.
Elissa Garofalo, president/executive director of the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor, spoke about the completion timetable for Delaware & Lehigh Trail Tuesday night at the Wright Township planning commission meeting.
“We are 88 percent done,” she said.
When completed, Garofalo said, the 165-mile Delaware & Lehigh Trail will be the longest multi-use trail in Pennsylvania, providing direct trail access to the upper reaches of the Delaware River watershed.
Mile marker 0 (or 165, if coming from the south) will be the River Common at East Northampton Street in Wilkes-Barre. Garofalo said the trail will go through Wilkes-Barre Township at Seven Tubs, which will link to Oliver’s Mills in Laurel Run.
The River Common portion is planned and may be passable on foot or mountain bike, but Garofalo said the section has not been completed.
People continuing on the trail will be able to access the Mountain Top overlook. From the overlook, individuals can reach Glen Summit.
It is in Glen Summit, between the Mountain Top and Black Diamond Trailheads, that another gap is reached.
“To go straight through (Glen Summit), would require a culvert through the roadway,” Garofalo said. It wouldn’t be the first, she noted, and it isn’t easy but there would be no stopping points for those using the trail. The other two options — a trail near state Route 437 or a windy trail for mountain bikers — through Glen Summit are “ugly.”
From Glen Summit, those using the trail will be able to reach the Black Diamond Trailhead in White Haven and the Lehigh Gorge.
Garofalo said the end goal is not only to have everything connected but also to have local municipalities own and maintain the trails. Some of the trail is currently owned by the Bureau of Forestry.
That theory would have the Wright Township owning the Glen Summit and overlook part of the trails.
“The longer the trail, the more economic impact,” Garofalo said. In parts of the Allentown portion of the trail. bike and runner shops have opened up for people who use the trails, she said. She also said that people come from out of town to walk the trails or learn about history.
There are over 100 points of history on the trail where people can stop and read about the D&L line.
In between the Mountain Top area and Jim Thorpe, there are six open trail sections. The next gap is the pedestrian bridge in Jim Thorpe.
Also announced Tuesday by Terri Monserrat, communications and education coordinator for the corridor, was a grant for $750,000 from the William Penn Foundation to establish the Lehigh Valley Trail & Greenway Network. The grant money will help close gaps in the trail.