Large State Grant To Help Complete Schuylkill River Trail In Montgomery County

NORRISTOWN, PA — State officials announced Wednesday that grant funding has been awarded to go toward completion of the Montgomery County portion of the Schuylkill River Trail, a recreational path that, once completed, is planned to extend from Philadelphia 120 miles out to Frackville in Schuylkill County.

During a trip to Pottstown in western Montgomery County Wednesday, Cindy Adams Dunn, the secretary of Pennsylvania's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, said that state grant dollars in the amount of $397,800 had been approved to help the county construct its final portion of the trail.

Dunn stated that her department was pleased to support closing one of only two remaining gaps in the Montgomery County portion of the multi-county trail.

"Today's announcement shows just how important it is to invest in the outdoors and to provide people with access to nature," Dunn said in a statement. "DCNR will continue to work with communities in the Schuylkill River Valley to ensure the vision of this trail is realized."

When complete, the Schuylkill River Trail is expected to pass through Philadelphia, Montgomery, Chester, Berks and Schuylkill Counties.

The trail has been put together in piecemeal throughout the last several years.

Large portions of the SRT are considered "rail trails," or trails that were built overtop of former railroad tracks.

"This project will close the second-to-last gap on the SRT between Birdsboro [Berks County] and Philadelphia to help create 47 continuous miles of the Schuylkill River Trail," Sarah Clark Stuart, chair of the Circuit Trails Coalition, stated of the recent grant funding announcement. "We couldn't be more excited for this segment to get underway and congratulate DCNR and Montgomery County for building out the Circuit."

Schuylkill River Greenways National Heritage Area Executive Director Elaine Schaefer said that when the final Montgomery County gap of the trail is closed, "all of the economic, health and transportation benefits the trail brings will increase exponentially for those upriver towns that will now be directly connected all the way to Philadelphia.

"We're so grateful to DCNR, DVRPC [Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission] and Montgomery County for making this vital investment that will support the revitalization of this whole corridor," Schaefer said in a statement.

State Rep. Joe Ciresi, a Democrat representing portions of western Montgomery County, called the SRT a "treasure and source of pride for our community," adding that the latest government investment in the trail would help create a "seamless connection from Manayunk to Reading."

Just last month, Patch reported on a new two-mile section of the SRT opening up between East Coventry Township and North Coventry Township in neighboring Chester County.

RELATED: New Stretch Of Schuylkill River Trail Opens In Southeastern PA

As for Montgomery County, once its gap is closed, the only other remaining gap on the trail in the region is in Philadelphia's Manayunk neighborhood. Once that is complete, there will be a 40-mile long, continuous multi-use trail from Philadelphia to the city of Reading in Berks County.

The SRT travels through the "historically rich region of southeastern Pennsylvania," according to a description of the trail on the website for the Schuylkill River Greenways National Heritage Area. "The trail passes through rural, agricultural, suburban, urban, and industrial landscapes."

The organization said that most of the SRT is built over abandoned railroad lines, and that today there exists more than 75 miles of both paved and crushed stone trail open to members of the public looking to either hike or bike the path.