It was an ordinary day. Found a bit more about the Safe Harbor bridge and the new trail that will take you along the length of the Susquehanna River. Some of the information I posted yesterday may be duplicated in today' story, but it may be just as helpful and may have some more information that you didn't find in yesterday's story. Check out the new information and see if it will take you on one of the most exciting and informative trails that you may not have known existed. My wife and I plan to give it a try as soon as we feel we can handle the walking required. The story today was written by Lancaster Newspaper's Ad Crable. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
After years of structural and funding delays, a widely anticipated $9 million conversion project has the historic Safe Harbor railroad trestle ready for a new kind of passenger.
The Erector-set-looking bridge, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, will be opened to the public around noon on Thursday, June 2, following a private dedication ceremony for those who had a hand in the long makeover from abandoned freight train bridge to pedestrian use and what many believe will quickly become a national tourist destination.
The opening of the span 125 feet above the Conestoga River — there are six small glass panels to peer down at the river and steel girders — was the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ top trail gap priority for linking regional rail trails in the state. DCNR and PennDOT secretaries rode bikes on Manor Township’s Enola Low Grade Rail Trail to the bridge in 2017 to vow to make the project happen.
The curving, towering, quarter-mile-long pedestrian bridge between Manor and Conestoga townships — the nation’s third-highest railroad trestle — finally links two popular sections of the Enola Low Grade multi-use trail. That makes possible, for the first time, a 28-mile scenic walking and biking pathway from Turkey Hill, south of Columbia, to the Chester County line.
“People have been waiting for this for three decades. For it to be completed is a dream come true for a lot of people. It will become a destination, so we better be ready to get a lot more visitors along the river,” said Mike Domin, a senior Lancaster County planner who has long pushed for the bridge conversion.
“It’s really an exciting time in our history. It’s just a tremendous recreation resource for everyone. I’m excited we made this happen in Lancaster County.
Ryan Strohecker, manager for Manor Township, which carried the project through uncertain times and performed substantial upgrades in-house, said: “Nobody can boast the view we have of the river. We believe it will be a nationwide draw.’’
Scenic multi-use trails of the length of the expanded Low Grade tend to attract tourists who stay overnight, noted Lori Yeich, DCNR’s regional recreation and conservation manager. Indeed, Quarryville Borough is carrying out a plan to connect the trail to downtown.
And there are plans to eventually link the rail trail to others, including the nearby Northwest Lancaster County River Trail. In 2020, the state announced plans for the Schuylkill to Susquehanna Greenway, connecting rail trails in Bainbridge, in northern Lancaster County, to Philadelphia and up the Schuylkill River for 130 miles to Frackville.
Mark Platts, president of the Susquehanna National Heritage Area, that includes Lancaster and York counties, says the Safe Harbor trestle project “will quickly become a major new visitor attraction and transforming this engineering landmark for bike and pedestrian use fills a big gap in the Enola Low Grade Rail Trail and offers a new way to experience the beauty and history of the Susquehanna.”
Adds DCNR’s Yeich, “We think this project was vital and really was well worth the investment for what we all get out of it. A major connection in a large and growing trail system that really offers a spectacular view of the Lower Susquehanna along a trail that is considered generally accessible to most people. This is really a big win for all of us.”
What you’ll see
That view is of a swath of the Susquehanna that includes whitewater from the Safe Harbor dam tail race, as well as wooded and boulder islands, including the famous Safe Harbor Native American petroglyphs. A couple miles downriver, the small river town of Pequea is visible.
There are 5-foot-high wooden and metal safety guard rails on each side of the 22-foot-wide pathway. In two spots, there are mounted bird-watching scopes to view bald eagles and waterfowl almost always visible in the rocks and islands below in the tail race of the Safe Harbor hydroelectric dam.
Even in winter, the bridge will be a draw for people to watch ice floes topple over the dam breast, Strohecker predicted.
The curve and height of the bridge affords a bird’s-eye view of the Susquehanna at a point where it is at its widest on its 444-mile journey. You can also see that here, alone on its long course, it has cut a steep gorge through the River Hills. For most of its flow from Cooperstown, New York, the river flows relatively flat through valleys, saving its steepest descent for last.
As soon as you walk out on the open bridge, a noticeable — refreshing when hot — breeze will buffet trail users.
At the Manor Township end of the bridge, the township has added a picnic pavilion, an observation platform looking down on the trestle and wide view, an enclosed restroom, interpretive panels about the trestle and Low Grade Line, and a reproduction of one of the watch towers that were sprinkled every 3 miles or so in which line walkers on the lookout for debris across the tracks year-round could warm up.
Gone are the railroad ties and wooden decking that once carried up to two trains at a time after the span was completed in 1906 as part of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Enola Low Grade Line, itself an earth-moving marvel second only to the building of the Panama Canal at the time. Some 200 men, mostly immigrants whisked here right off of boats, died in Lancaster County during the blasting and dangerous back-breaking work.
Now, users will cross on a concrete deck that was used so there could be no repeat of the 2018 arson that burned the Martic Forge railroad trestle over Pequea Creek, just several miles downriver on the Low Grade Trail. Originally planned to be wooden decking, some 2,170 tons of concrete were poured instead to fireproof the span.
The Safe Harbor trestle was never open to the public and was abandoned in 1988 by Conrail when the railroad discontinued use of the entire Low Grade Line. The next year, Lancaster County commissioners expressed an interest in taking over and converting the railroad into a public multiple-use trail.
But seven southern Lancaster County townships opposed the idea as an invasion of their privacy and instead used legal means to assume 23 miles of rights of way in 2018. Since then, however, the townships, at varying rates, have all moved to implement a public rail trail.
Expectations are high
But the missing gap has been connecting Manor Township’s highly popular 5.25-mile section with the other 23 miles. Last year, with COVID-19 sending people outdoors, a record 80,000 people flocked to the township’s rail trail.
With the opening of the trestle and its captivating view, township officials are expecting to see visitation quickly rise to 125,000 a year or more. Expansion of the trail’s 80-space parking lot already is under way.
As for the remainder of the 23 miles east of Safe Harbor, repairing the Martic Forge trestle is scheduled to be complete this summer or fall. Funding is in place for a multi-use trail surface in the sections through Eden and Bart townships in 2023 and 2024. A funding application has been filed to build the easternmost section of the rail trail in Sadsbury Township to Atglen Borough and the start of the Chester Valley Trail.
Manor Township, county and state officials have sought the Safe Harbor rehab since 2014. After it seemed state and federal money was at hand, removal of the decking and ballast in 2016 revealed structural damage to the original steel I beams.
The state threw in more money and Manor Township used a capital campaign to raise $800,000, entirely by private donations from 32 individuals and businesses ranging from $500 up to $500,000 from the Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority.
Strohecker is proud that no taxpayer funds were used to make up the needed shortfall.
“They cared about it. They knew this was going to be a national treasure and they wanted to be part of it,” he said of the private donors who rose to the occasion.
One donor, whose family owns a roadside fruit and vegetable stand near the rail trail, cited a huge uptick in business because of the popularity of the trail.
The total engineering and construction cost of the project is $9 million. The state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources provided $1.3 million; federal alternative transportation funds through PennDOT, $4.3 million; Lancaster County, $2.3 million; Manor Township capital campaign and in-house work, $1.1 million.
Strohecker can hardly wait for June 2. “A lot of people put their heart and soul into this and we want to get it open to the public,” he said. “After 11:30 or 12, we hope this bridge is flooded with people.”
WHEN YOU GO
The trailhead for Manor Township’s Enola Low Grade Rail Trail is at 2459 River Road, Washington Boro. There are 80 parking spaces and portable toilets. The distance to walk or bike to the Safe Harbor pedestrian bridge is 5.25 miles.
The most direct way to get to the bridge itself is from the parking area for the Safe Harbor hydroelectric dam at 1 Powerhouse Road, Conestoga. There are a few parking spaces on Powerhouse Road at the trailhead before crossing the bridge over the Conestoga River. But more likely you will have to park in the large public parking lot for Safe Harbor and walk back across the bridge. The trailhead will be on your right. It’s a short but steep five-minute walk, including 36 steps on a staircase, on the gravel trail to the bridge entrance.
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