The Chester Valley Trail in Montgomery and Chester counties.
Schuylkill to Susquehanna Greenway gets special state designation
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Darryl C. Murphy/WHYY
@CVTrail / Twitter
The Chester Valley Trail in Montgomery and Chester counties.
The 85-mile-long Schuylkill to Susquehanna Greenway was designated a statewide major greenway, effective Friday.
The trail runs through Chester, Montgomery and Lancaster counties, and enables people to travel between the Schuylkill and Susquehanna rivers.
“This designation … elevates the closing of existing gaps and completion of the trail to DCNR’s highest trail-funding priority,” Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn said.
“DCNR views closing priority trail gaps essential, as they form the major ‘arteries’ of the statewide land and water trail network, which confers recreation, health, transportation, economic, tourism and other benefits to residents throughout the commonwealth.”
The status is reserved for trail corridors that are at least 50 miles long, that pass through two or more counties, and are recognized in official planning documents.
The Schuylkill to Susquehanna Greenway will combine existing county-supported trails, connecting users from Falmouth in Lancaster County to Norristown in Montgomery County. It follows the routes of the Chester Valley Trail in Montgomery and Chester counties, and the Enola Low-Grade Rail Trail and Northwest Lancaster County River Trail in Lancaster County.
Once it is completed, the greenway will link the Circuit Trails Network of Greater Philadelphia to the Susquehanna River.
“Montgomery County recognizes that trails enhance the quality of life for those who utilize them — as well as those who work and live near them,” Bill Hartman, section chief of trails and open space planning for the Montgomery County Planning Commission, said in a DCNR release. “This will certainly hold true for the Schuylkill to Susquehanna Greenway.”
WHYY is the leading public media station serving the Philadelphia region, including Delaware, South Jersey and Pennsylvania. This story originally appeared on WHYY.org.
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