DVRPC Provides $200,000 Grant for Design of Croydon Walking, Biking Trail

The Delaware Regional Planning Commission Board approved a $200,000 grant for the design of a walking/biking trail in Bristol Township’s Croydon section last month.

The effort to create a trail, which as originally proposed  to create a paved walking and biking trail would run along River Road from Veterans Highway (Route 413) to Cedar Avenue, was launched last year, Bristol Township Council President Craig Bowen said.

There’s still plenty of work and planning that needs to be done, Bowen said, especially with PennDOT and the right of way near the proposed trail.

Planners from the The Pennsylvania Environmental Council, the Doylestown-based Heritage Conservancy, and East Coast Greenway Alliance have been working with Bristol Township for more than a year now to move the plan from the hypothetical to realization.

As with everything involving a number of agencies and government it  sometimes feels like glacial movement and then all of sudden council and township manager are looking over a finalized plan to approve.

The effort is also part of  connecting the new trail with the under-development 3,000-mile East Coast Greenway that stretches from Maine to Florida.

The East Coast Greenway, is about 40  percent complete, officials said in recent e mail exchanges.

The East Coast Greenway runs through Bensalem Township, Bristol Borough, Bristol Township, Falls Township, Morrisville Borough, and Tullytown Borough. The route is along the Delaware Canal State Park towpath from Morrisville Borough through Bristol Borough and moves to roadways in Bristol Township, in Lower Bucks County.

Bowen, who is a Croydon resident, said a majority of the people he’s spoken with about the creation of a walking-biking trail were real positive about the idea last year when the plan was discussed with locals.

Bowen said the grant will be discussed most likely at the next council meeting on August 15, 7 p.m. at the municipal complex.

Credit: DeZen Graphics