Officials gathered Thursday afternoon to break ground on a new, one-mile-long trail extension at Core Creek Park in Middletown Township.
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The project at the Bucks County-owned park will feature a 150-foot floating boardwalk and connect to the Philadelphia region’s growing network of recreational trails.
The new segment, a part of the Neshaminy Greenway Trail, will connect existing park trails to the intersection of Woodbourne and Ellis roads. Its centerpiece, the floating boardwalk, will span a cove on Lake Luxembourg.
“This is just another example of making government work for the people of this county in a way that benefits them,” said Bucks County Commissioner Chairperson Bob Harvie. “The one thing that is pretty unanimously popular everywhere is trails.”
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The trail will parallel Full Gate Road, cross a small bridge to Ellis Road, and extend to Woodbourne Road.
The project also includes improvements to the existing fisherman’s parking lot to enhance safety for visitors accessing the trail from Ellis Road, officials said.
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Nick Valla, the interim Middletown Township manager, described Core Creek Park as “the absolute gem of Middletown Township and Lower Bucks.”
He added, “We are so grateful that the county is expanding and investing in our pedestrian infrastructure here in Middletown.”
Ariella Maron, executive director of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC), said the groundbreaking’s timing coincides with Bike Month celebrations. She said investments like this “provide many benefits for communities across our region and embody a number of key goals established in our region’s Long Range Plan, which is Connections 2050.”
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The goals of the plan include providing safe, non-motorized active transportation, increasing access to green spaces, and encouraging economic opportunities.
The project has been in the works for years, with planning beginning in 2018 when Gilmore and Associates were hired to design the trail.
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Rich Brahler, Bucks County Planning Commission director of transportation planning and project manager, credited former trails planner Paul Gordon with the innovative floating boardwalk concept.
“As with all ideas, it’s like, ‘are you crazy? That’ll never work.’ So here we are. It’s pretty cool. It’s going to be the centerpiece of this trail,” Brahler said.
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Funding for the project comes from multiple sources, with Bucks County Commissioners covering design costs and a percentage of construction. Additional support is provided through the state and DVRPC’s Regional Trails Investment Project.
Bucks County Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia, a former DVRPC board member, said she appreciated for the trail’s safety measure for pedestrians and bicyclists.
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“I was a bike rider and rode to Newtown all the time from my house in Levittown and I always thought that was kind of cool to get here safely on those major roads,” Ellis-Marseglia said. “I had my knee replaced a couple years ago. And so now, I have a whole new form of bike riding that doesn’t let you get on a regular road. I am particularly grateful, as many people are, for the safety that these trails provide so that everybody can exercise safely.”
State Sen. Frank Farry, who attended with his dog Harper, emphasized the importance of expanding park opportunities for residents and their pets.
“It’s always great when parks start expanding the opportunities they offer to our community,” Farry said. “I appreciate counties taking advantage of some state aid. We obviously want those dollars, the programs we established in Harrisburg, coming back to our community.”
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Construction officially began in April and is expected to be completed next year.
In recent years, the county has completed the Upper Bucks Rail Trail that connects to the Lehigh Valley and the Newtown Rail Trail in Upper Southampton and has a connections to the Pennpack Trail that runs in Montgomery and Philadelphia counties. The next phase of the Newtown Rail Trail is a 1.8-mile-long extension that runs from Upper Southampton to the county-owned Churchville Nature Center in Northampton Township.
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The groundbreaking also served as an opportunity to recognize Brahler, who announced his upcoming retirement after 35 years of service.
“I am very, very glad that we’re able to break ground on this project while Rich is here,” Harvie said, commending Brahler as “a constant professional” who “cares about getting these projects done for people in this county and doing it well.”
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