Extend D&L Trail with county rail sale
Editor: completing the Delaware & Lehigh Trail to Wilkes-Barre is an exciting possibility. A key section yet established is from Northampton Street in the Georgetown section of Wilkes-Barre Twp. logically following railroad lines descending through the Ashley area and down into Wilkes-Barre completing the 165-mile D&L Trail, part of the Delaware Lehigh National Heritage Corridor designated by the US Congress in 1988.
Bringing the D&L to our downtown will add to the already established trails — the Wyoming Valley Levee System, the Susquehanna Warrior Trail, the Back Mountain Trail, the Luzerne County Rail Trail near Pittston — and expand the off-road cycling options throughout the Wyoming Valley.
This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity. As a full service bicycle shop owner in Wilkes-Barre, I can envision expanded and improved opportunities for healthy recreation for the people of Wyoming Valley.
It’s also easy to envision people visiting here to ride a gradual downhill trail from the Mountaintop area through the Pennsylvania State Forest to Ashley and Wilkes-Barre. There is clear evidence that wherever this trail leads, economic opportunity follows.
I encourage the Luzerne County government to ensure trail development is a part of the sale of the Redevelopment Authority’s rail line. Rails and trails can co-exist and both can be part of a better Luzerne County.
Rich Adams, Around Town Bicycles Inc., Wilkes-Barre