Vandalism: Graffiti has been spotted around Poquessing Park trail.
The hiking and biking trail now being built from behind Junod Playground in Parkwood to the rear of Benjamin Rush State Park at Southampton and the Boulevard should be completed in August, Parkwood Civic Association members were told June 18.
But the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation probably won’t schedule a grand opening and a ribbon-cutting of the Poquessing Park Trail until after Labor Day, Rob Armstrong, the department’s preservation and capital projects manager, told members.
It’s a bow to the reality of August in the city. “There won’t be anyone around,” Armstrong said.
Work on the 1.3-mile trail began in early spring, and is just about complete, he told members meeting at Junod Playground. People already are using the trail, which skirts the city’s boundary with Bensalem Township and goes through Poquessing Creek Park on its way to link up with the newly renovated Benjamin Rush State Park.
A new bridge over narrow Black Lake Run recently was delivered in one piece and has been put in place, Armstrong said. The trail will be blacktopped before work stops.
Motor vehicles aren’t supposed to use the trail, Armstrong said, and added there will be swing gates installed at some entrances to prevent ATV riders from using the trail. Boulders, too, will be installed throughout the area to make ATV riding less attractive. City and state funds have been invested in building the trail, he said, and the city will try to protect that investment.
Armstrong said he has found that, once people start using the trail, the “negative element” will move on.
Armstrong said workers have found some areas of poor drainage that were not caught while the trail was being designed, but workers are addressing them now.
Short dumping — the illegal dumping of contractors’ debris — is going on near the trail at McNulty Road.
“In my opinion, this is the biggest problem,” Armstrong said.
Graffiti is another. One resident reported that a stretch of Mechanicsville Road — the road itself — had been tagged. City Planner Kathleen Lambert said residents should report graffiti as soon as they see it.
The Parkwood Civic Association will not meet in July or August. The organization’s next session will be at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 17, at St. Anselm’s Church Hall, 12670 Dunksferry Road. The organization’s website is www.parkwoodnow.ning.com ••
