Newtown Township Awarded $1M Grant To Build Pedestrian Bridge

NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP, PA — Newtown Township has been awarded a state grant for $999,979, enough to fund the construction of a new pedestrian bridge linking Newtown Borough and Newtown Township over the Newtown Creek.

The award was announced Tuesday by State Senator Steve Santarsiero and State Rep. Perry Warren who worked behind the scenes to secure the funding through the Commonwealth Financing Authority.

The grant application was submitted by Newtown Township with the support of Newtown Borough, the Newtown Creek Coalition, Bucks County Government and a lengthy list of supporting groups and organizations.

The new pedestrian bridge will be built over the Newtown Creek, bridging the two municipalities at North Sycamore Street behind Penn Community Bank and Frost Lane and Edgeboro Drive in Newtown Borough. The bridge will also serve as a connection on the county’s extensive trail network.

“The addition of a pedestrian bridge over Newtown Creek will not only bridge two municipalities together, but will improve our local and regional trail connectivity,” said Senator Santarsiero.

“The Newtown Creek Pedestrian Bridge is near and dear to my heart,” added Rep. Warren. “This bridge will connect communities, both physically and metaphorically, as Newtown Borough residents and Newtown Township residents on 'the other side of the creek' will have safe
pedestrian access to the Sycamore Street commercial and business district, and all residents will have another recreational area to enjoy. Thank you to the Newtown Creek Coalition for its vision for this project and its effort in moving it toward fruition.”

According to Mike Sellers, the president of the Newtown Creek Coalition which proposed the project, the new span will be built next to the stone abutments of a former bridge that once carried trolleys over the creek in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

The only known photograph of the historic bridge taken around 1898.

The grant will also fund the construction of new pedestrian trails leading up to the bridge on both sides of the creek.

The trolley line was discontinued in 1923. It had once traversed Penn Street and State Street before crossing the creek at Frost Lane and continuing its journey to Doylestown.

The project is designed to provide a safe, recreational connection across Newtown Creek, fill in a missing link in the local and county trail system, and provide a safer alternative for walkers and bikers to cross the creek.

“We are just very appreciative that our grant was successful,” said Sellers. “It’s a wonderful testament to the partnership between the borough, the township and the creek coalition working on the project.”

According to Sellers 3,000 applications were submitted statewide for the “no match” grants with 1100 winning approval, not all fully funded.

“There was a lot of competition and it’s important to recognize our State Rep. Perry Warren and our state Senator Steve Santarsiero who were major advocates on this grant application," said Sellers. "They advocated for us in a big way. And that was extremely important to that process.”

A map showing the location of the proposed pedestrian bridge.

The idea of a pedestrian bridge was first broached at a meeting of the Newtown Borough Creek Coalition in the township and the creek coalition in 2010. "We started talking about ways to get safely across the creek and began looking at the possibility of repurposing the old trolley line bridge as a pedestrian crossing," said Sellers.

Up until 2016, residents had the option of crossing the creek using a pedestrian bridge located off of North State Street. That bridge, however, located on private property was shut down after it fell into disrepair and became a liability for the property owner.

In late 2019, just months before the pandemic, the township supervisors and the borough council approved resolutions supporting the concept and working with each other and the Newtown Creek Coalition to explore the feasibility of the project.

After being sidelined by the pandemic, Sellers resurrected the idea with appearances before the board of supervisors and the borough council.

In early 2023, both municipalities authorized their engineers to begin working together on the project and to pursue grant opportunities.

Last October, the Newtown Borough Council approved a resolution in supporting Newtown Township's grant application for the project.

The project also has the backing and support of State Sen. Steve Santarsiero, State Rep. Perry Warren, the Bucks County Commissioners, the Bucks County Planning Commission, the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, the Heritage Conservancy, the Newtown Historical Association, the borough and township planning commissions, and the Central Bucks Bicycle Club.