Earth Day Cleanup Targets Future Site Of Pedestrian Bridge In Newtown

NEWTOWN, PA - A section of the Newtown Creek got some tender loving care Saturday morning and about a dozen volunteers got to enjoy a beautiful Earth Day morning giving back to the environment.

A spring cleanup, organized by the Newtown Creek Coalition, focused on a portion of the creek located behind Penn Community Bank and in around a series of stone abutments that once supported a trolley bridge over the creek.

Veteran creek volunteers, including former councilwoman Julia Woldorf, Mike Sellers and Ted Schmidt, were joined by Newtown Borough Mayor John Burke, Bernie Sauers, local attorney Jerry Shankman and others in helping to remove fallen branches and trees which had built up in and
around the base of the stone abutments.

This is where the coalition, a nonprofit group dedicated to preserving the creek, envisions the construction of a future pedestrian bridge across the Newtown Creek linking Frost Lane in the borough with Sycamore Street in the township.

The coalition will be submitting a grant this year to the state through its Local Share Account program that would fund the entire project.

Coalition members are currently soliciting letters of support from the county, local politicians, neighboring municipalities and regional trail advocacy groups in support of the application, according to Sellers.

The stone abutments of the original trolley bridge, circa 1895.

Sellers and he’s optimistic the coalition will be successful with its grant request citing support from the borough, the township and the coalition.

“We have a unique partnership, which throughout the Commonwealth is very unusual,” said Sellers. “We’re hoping that will enhance our prospects of securing the grant.”

Also enhancing the project’s prospects is its location. According to Sellers, the bridge would provide a key link over the Newtown Creek for a number of trails and greenways now in the planning and construction phase in Bucks County.

The grant would pay for the construction of an eight foot wide pre-fabricated bridge across the creek. It would be built next to the original bridge abutments, which date back to 1895. The plan also envisions the creation of a pocket park on the Newtown Township side of the creek.

“It’s going to be very attractive,” said Sellers of the bridge and of the park.

“With that grant we’re talking about a bridge that could be up in the next couple of years,” said Sellers. “In the meantime we want to clean it up, let people see what it is and restore as much as possible.”

Mayor John Burke and Bernie Sauers helped cut through the overgrowth.

Sellers extended his thanks to local developer Allan Smith for granting access to the property for a dumpster and the right of way to the old trolley bridge.

He also thanked Leck Waste Disposal for providing the dumpster and Jefferson Landscaping, which helped with the clearing of larger branches and debris.

And he thanked the volunteers who participated. “They are the heart of this project. They came out and helped with the cutting and clearing,” said Sellers. “It’s great that people devoted a couple hours of their time on a Saturday morning to do this good work for the restoration of the creek and the bridge to come.”