Chester Valley Trail Connection To Schuylkill River Trail Now Complete

NORRISTOWN, PA — One of the most impactful and long-awaited trail connections in the Delaware Valley is now complete, and Norristown is the junction and the linchpin.

The Chester Valley Trail, a 14.5 mile running, hiking, and biking that starts in Exton, is now connected to the Schuylkill River Trail in Norristown.

Planning and construction on the new 3.8 mile stretch of trail between King of Prussia and Norristown has been underway for years. A public ribbon cutting to celebrate the opening of the new connection will be held on Monday, March 13 at 11 a.m. at 67 King of Prussia Road, behind the KOP Park and Ride and PennDOT driver's license center.

The new path is between 10 to 12 feet wide and is paved.

It links Exton with points far flung on the Schuylkill, ranging from Center City Philadelphia to Pottstown and beyond to Reading.

The project included constructing a pair of new pedestrian bridges: one at South Gulph Road and another at Henderson Road. It also improved another two bridges for better bike and pedestrian access.

Officials are hopeful another major expansion of the regional trail network, which has the Norristown area at its center, will soon be complete. A 17.5 mile loop of the Cross County Trail has been proposed, which would extend the path from the Schuylkill River Trail in Conshohocken to Germantown Pike, Erdenheim Farms, Fort Washington State Park, and the SEPTA regional rail station in Fort Washington.

These connections would make the Cross County Trail nearly contigious with Wissahickon Valley Park in Philadelphia, effectively completing a massive dogleg off of the Schuylkill River that also links to the Cresheim and Power Line trails.

The Chester Valley-Schuykill crossroads comes just as the Norristown Trail Junction Center project comes together. Once finished, the Center will provide amenities for trail users like bathrooms, water, trail information and maps, bike repairs, and possibly even a small café or refreshment venue, according to the county. It will also include community space for meetings and events, as well as environmental education exhibits and interpretative materials.

Numerous sponsors supported the Chester Valley extension. Some funds came from the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program (CMAQ),while other partners are the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources C2P2 grant program, and the William Penn Foundation.

To RSVP for Monday's ribbon cutting, which is open to the public, see here.