It’s not going to happen immediately, but work is underway on a project to connect the Lower Trail with Canoe Creek State Park.

The Canoe Creek Connector project consists of trail work on about 5,600 feet of trail.

The east portion of this work will be new trail construction of 2,000 feet from the current end of the Lower Trail at the tunnel under Route 22 to the bridge past the Fisherman’s Path parking area, said Wesley Robinson, state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources spokesman.

The rest of the project will be trail rehabilitation, making the trail more suitable for bicycles to navigate some wet areas along the floodplain of New Creek. There are also going to be two bridge replacements along this section of trail.

The project will connect the Lower Trail to the main Day Use Area at Canoe Creek State Park, Robinson said.

Rails to Trails of Central Pennsylvania Inc., which owns and operates the 17-mile multi-use Lower Trail, recently completed its portion in connecting the Flowing Spring Trailhead westward up and under Route 22 to connect it to Canoe Creek State Park.

It is up to the DCNR to build the trail into the park, said Rails to Trails board member Jennifer Barefoot.

Keller Engineers Inc. of Hollidaysburg is doing the design work for the project, said Joe Basil, Canoe Creek State Park manager.

“Funding is in place through the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to fund this project. We don’t have the total project cost yet, we are in the early design phase,” said Basil, adding that planning for the project began before COVID-19 hit in 2020.

Basil said DCNR Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn pushed to get the project funded.

“This was one of the top 10 trail gaps in Pennsylvania. So far, several hundred thousand dollars has been invested. When finished, it will connect with the Lower Trail and the trail will run from Alfarata to Canoe Creek State Park. It will provide a safer route into the park,” Basil said.

Basil said it is too early to provide a definite time frame for the project.

“Things are in the permitting process and we probably won’t see any construction until 2026 at the earliest,” Robinson said.

Meanwhile, Rails to Trails’ efforts to obtain a $958,500 grant through the PennDOT Transportation Alternatives Set-Aside program were unsuccessful.

The money would have been used to reconstruct various sections of the Lower Trail to eliminate hazardous conditions along a 5.9-mile section from Williamsburg Borough to just south of the intersection of Polecat Hollow Road and Fox Run Road. The project also included extending the trail pavement from the Covedale trailhead to the Mount Etna trailhead for an additional 2.7 miles.

“It was rejected because of a lack of available funding for the amount of applications submitted. The rejection means that repair of the root cracks will be addressed in the future, using other funds. The additional paving work, not considered critical, may be put off for now,” said Rails to Trails board member Karl King.

“Our volunteers will continue to do the fantastic work they always have done in keeping the trail in great condition. Down the line, we will continue to look for other avenues or grants to work on addressing the bumps caused by roots under the paved portions of the trail,” Barefoot said.

Mirror Staff Writer Walt Frank is at 814-946-7467.