Partner Spotlight: Friends of the Cresheim Trail
By Susan Dannenberg, Chair, FoCT Board of Directors
It has been an exciting year for the Cresheim Trail. The big news is that Councilwoman Cindy Bass introduced an ordinance that will authorize the City of Philadelphia to acquire the bridge and lease the railroad right-of-way from PECO that will allow the Cresheim Trail to continue to the city limit at Stenton Avenue. The trail is planned to continue six miles through the Montgomery County townships of Cheltenham and Springfield, where it will connect with the Green Ribbon Trail (aka Wissahickon Trail) in Flourtown. When completed, the Cresheim Trail will close the loop on this important intercounty connection of Circuit Trails, which is the branding of a 750+ mile regional trail system throughout the Delaware Valley, including five counties in Pennsylvania and four counties in New Jersey. (circuittrails.org)
Throughout 2017, the Friends of the Cresheim Trail (FOCT) volunteers continued to refine the natural surface trails within Wissahickon Valley Park, adding a loop that includes very ambitious hand built stonework utilizing boulders weighing in excess of 1,500 pounds.
The Philadelphia Streets Department (PSD) installed pedestrian crossing signs at the mid-block crossing on Cresheim Road and at the juncture of Cresheim Valley Drive/Emlen Drive and Cresheim Road. PSD also installed a zebra stripe crosswalk on Cresheim Road to alert drivers to the presence of trail users crossing the road.
In addition to well-attended regular workdays, FoCT hosted its first Cresheim Trail Cider Fest on October 14. Forty people of all ages enjoyed learning more about the Cresheim Trail while imbibing mulled cider, eating doughnuts and spice wafers, and taking personal guided trail walks.
The FoCT is looking for some hard working, enthusiastic people to round out our Board of Directors. If you have an interest in trails and skills that you would like to contribute to our efforts, contact Susan Dannenberg at susandannenberg@gmail.com or 215-715-9159.