If things go according to a plan being designed by the Bucks County Planning Commission, a new .9-mile trail with a floating boardwalk will be constructed at Core Creek Park.
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The Bucks County-owned park in Middletown Township is 1,200 acres and features a number of existing trails and recreation facilities. However, there is limited connectivity in the upper end of the park, along Tollgate Road and Woodbourne Road.
Recently, Rich Brahler, the planning commission’s director of transportation planning, told the commission the design phase is underway on the trail that is proposed.
The Neshaminy Greenway trail would be a 10-foot-wide paved path that would stretch from the area of existing trails near the dog park next to Tollgate Road, along the lake, next to Ellis Road, and to the intersection with Woodbourne Road.
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The trail would enhance park access for residents and neighborhoods in that part of the township, according to Brahler.
The floating boardwalk would cross a cove in Lake Luxembourg, which has a relatively steady water level, near Tollgate Road.
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Brahler said the floating boardwalk would feature benches and a fishing spot that will have wheelchair access.
A small fishing and parking spot at the corner of Woodbourne Road and Ellis Road would have its driveway relocated to make for safer traffic conditions in the area, according to the current plan.
The planning commission, which has designed a number of county trail projects, has used grant money to fund the $261,000 design cost, and would look to use grant money to pay for the $2.89 million trail, Brahler said.
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The current plan is awaiting a PennDOT review, Brahler said.
According to documents from the planning commission, the full design is expected to be completed in spring 2024.
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If the trail gets approvals and moves forward, construction is anticipated to take nine months to a year.
The soon-to-be-constructed 159-dwelling Stone Meadows Farm development next to Core Creek Park is designed to have open space and trails that would connect to Core Creek Park at Tollgate Road.
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The new trail comes as the county has invested in creating new pedestrian and bicycling trails over the past decade. A short trail for planned in Levittown, and the county opened the 2.5-mile-long Newtown Rail Trail in Upper Southampton, with plans to expand it to Churchville Nature Center in Northampton Township.
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