Mary Yardley Pedestrian Bridge Open To Public

YARDLEY, PA —It was worth the wait.

That's what Yardley Council President Caroline Thompson had to say about the opening of the Mary Yardley Bridge to pedestrians, which was years in the making and even took longer to open once it was delivered to the borough.

"We are thrilled that the Mary Yardley Bridge is open for members of the community to enjoy," Thompson recently told Patch.

Thompson encourages residents who haven't visited the bridge yet, to venture to Fuld Road and see the bridge for themselves.

"Everything came together beautifully and it is a staggering improvement over what it replaced in so many ways —it was worth the wait," she said.

Thompson offered her "heartfelt thanks" to past and present public works members and to Council Vice President Uri Feiner, who led the charge to get approval from DCNR and Yardley Borough Council for a temporary change in fill grading on the canal side of the bridge so that the PECO lot acquisition was not necessary to open the bridge.

Thompson said the borough is still proceeding with the purchase of the Fuld lot currently owned by PECO, but "we could no longer wait through the lengthy legal process while the bridge sat closed."

The new bridge was installed in late September.

After months of delays and endless discussion by borough officials, the deteriorated footbridge over the Delaware Canal was replaced. At that time, Thompson said the public wouldn't have access to the pedestrian bridge for a few more weeks.

Hence, the PECO delay.

"We are thrilled to have found a way, in working with DCNR, to do most of the regrading on the towpath while we wait for the PECO lot acquisition to complete, and open the new Mary Yardley Bridge," Feiner said.

"This is a unique bridge compared to others along the canal because the towpath goes around it rather than under it," the councilman added. "With that challenge, the goal was to eliminate steps on both sides for increased usability by everyone. This was achieved by regrading the towpath up to the bridge level. The result is a major benefit for people accessing the towpath from the bridge."

Feiner said that once the PECO lot is fully in the borough’s possession, the borough will do some additional grading and work to beautify the lot to become the Yardley Trailhead, a space for the community’s use and access point for the D&L State Park.

Borough officials have expressed frustration over getting the bridge replaced over the years, a process that has taken decades.

"We can't seem to get the bridge installed," Feiner said in September, adding that the borough had DCNR right-of-way that was created in 1987 and ended in May 2022, requiring the borough in March to extend it.

"It's just sitting in DCNR," Feiner said at the time. "It's not normal. We've been asked, 'Where's the bridge? Where's the bridge? Every other municipality can get it. It's been 15 months and this bridge is sitting somewhere. We can't accept this as normal. We have to find some way to push through bureaucracy. It's crazy that people won't sign a document that has been around for 35 years."