Completed! A New Feasibility Study for the 3.4-Mile Tookany Creek Trail in Cheltenham
Would you like to walk or bicycle the length of Tookany Creek from High School Road to Cheltenham Avenue?
Working together, the Tookany-Tacony-Frankford Watershed Partnership (TTF) and the Pennsylvania Environmental Council (PEC) sponsored a study from the fall of 2019 to the spring of 2021 to determine the feasibility of updating and expanding the existing Tookany Creek Trail through Cheltenham Township. This trail will form an important part of The Circuit -- the 800+ mile long network of interconnected multi-use trails being developed in the Philadelphia region -- and was studied and formulated to meet Circuit standards for a multi-use pedestrian and bicycle trail. The trail has also been examined for compliance with standards of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA).
While the study is limited to the corridor between Cheltenham Avenue and High School Road, the work also took into account links with the Tacony Creek Trail in Philadelphia and the Frankford Creek Greenway all the way to the Delaware River and the East Coast Greenway, as well as Elkins Park, Arcadia University, the Cresheim Trail in Springfield Township, and many other amenities in and around Cheltenham.
The study looked at potential alternate routes on both sides of the Tookany Creek, and benefitted from a rigorous public involvement process including a Study Advisory Committee (SAC) of local representatives, numerous focus groups and key person interviews, presentations to Township staff and elected officials, and three public meetings, two of which were held virtually due to pandemic restrictions.
You can view the recording of the second public meeting at which the project team unveiled initial recommendations for the Tookany Creek Trail (below). The final Tookany Creek Trail Feasibility Study, including appendices is provided here. The executive summary is provided here.
The next step is to secure funding to conduct engineering and design analyses which will examine and identify the final alignments, amenities, and needed Right-Of-Way to build the Tookany Creek Trail. Once these have been completed, construction of the trail can begin.
The engineering, design, and construction process for the entire trail will not take place all at once. Rather, the trail will be built in segments, with each piece of the trail bringing Cheltenham residents closer to a fully connected trail system. Now, it is up to YOU to express your interest in the Tookany Creek Trail to your local elected officials, whose efforts will be critical to moving the trail forward.
