Pedestrian Bridge Project Takes 'Huge Step' Forward In Newtown

NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP, PA — A new pedestrian bridge that will link Newtown Borough and Newtown Township is one step closer to reality.

At its April meeting, the Newtown Township Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to award a contract to Howell Engineering to design the bridge, which is slated to be built over the Newtown Creek behind Penn Community Bank.

In addition, the supervisors voted to execute three easement agreements with neighboring property owners allowing the joint project with Newtown Borough and the Newtown Creek Coalition to move forward.

“This is a huge step for the project,” said Mike Sellers of the Newtown Creek Coalition, a nonprofit
that is partnering with the township and the borough on the project. “Since October, we have worked with the township manager, solicitor, and the engineer to do the necessary work to get proposals from design engineers and, very importantly, to secure the easements needed to do the project.”

Those easements are coming from three key partners in the project - the Cliveden Estates Homeowners Association, Sycamore Street Associates, and DLCP, LLC.

“While we talk about being able to build the bridge and the trail leading up to the bridge, in this
particular case this is private land, which means private land owners must be willing to not only support the project in philosophy, but to grant the easements necessary for the bridge and the trail to be built and maintained forever.”

The new pedestrian bridge will be built over the Newtown Creek, bridging the two municipalities between North Sycamore Street (behind Penn Community Bank) and Frost Lane and Edgeboro
Drive in Newtown Borough. The bridge will also serve as a “missing link” in the county’s extensive trail network.

The project will be fully funded by a grant awarded by the Commonwealth Financing Authority and secured by State Senator Steve Santarsiero and State Rep. Perry Warren.

According to Sellers, the new span will be built next to the stone abutments of a bridge that once carried trolleys over the creek in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

The grant will also fund the construction of new pedestrian trails leading up to the bridge on both sides of the creek.

The trolley line was discontinued in 1923. It had once traversed Penn Street and State Street before crossing the creek at Frost Lane and continuing its journey to Doylestown.

The project is designed to provide a safe, recreational connection across Newtown Creek, fill in a
missing link in the local, county, and regional trail system, and provide a safer alternative for walkers and bikers to cross the creek.

The idea of a pedestrian bridge was first broached at a meeting of the Newtown Borough Creek Coalition in the township and the creek coalition in 2010.

“We started talking about ways to get safely across the creek and began looking at the possibility of repurposing the old trolley line bridge as a pedestrian crossing," said Sellers.

Up until 2016, residents had the option of crossing the creek using a pedestrian bridge located off of North State Street. That bridge, however, located on private property, was shut down after it fell into
disrepair and became a liability for the property owner.

In late 2019, just months before the pandemic, the township supervisors and the borough council approved resolutions supporting the concept and working with each other and the Newtown Creek Coalition to explore the feasibility of the project.

After being sidelined by the pandemic, the Creek Coalition resurrected the idea with appearances before the board of supervisors and the borough council.

In early 2023, both municipalities authorized their engineers to begin working together on the project and to pursue grant opportunities.

In October 2023, the Newtown Borough Council approved a resolution supporting Newtown
Township's $1 million grant application for the project.

The project also has the backing and support of State Sen. Steve Santarsiero, State Rep. Perry Warren, the Bucks County Commissioners, the Bucks County Planning Commission, the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, the Heritage Conservancy, the Newtown Historical Association, the borough and township planning commissions, and the Central Bucks Bicycle Club.