Friends of the Wissahickon in Montgomery and Philadelphia counties will be closing two sections of the Yellow Trail in the Wissahickon Valley Park this spring and summer to make improvements to the trail.

The first section of the trail that will be closed is from Roxborough Avenue to Walnut Lane. Here, surface erosion and stormwater running along an unpaved roadway is contributing to sediment and stormwater runoff directly into the Wissahickon Creek.

People traveling along the Yellow Trail in this location are strongly encouraged to use Forbidden Drive between the Green Lane/Jannette Street access road and the Blue Stone Bridge. Detour signs will be posted.

Also, there will be no access to the Yellow Trail from the Kitchens Lane Bridge during construction work on the Roxborough section of the trail will begin in late March (weather dependent), and will continue through June. 

In mid-summer, a section of the Yellow Trail at Gorgas Lane will be closed in order to make repairs due to extreme erosion which have made the trail unstable and unsafe. During rain events, this section of the trail contributes large amounts of sediment and stormwater to Gorgas Run, a tributary of the Wissahickon Creek.

When there is a firm date for this project to begin, Friends of the Wissahickon will alert the community.

The Yellow Trail will be closed for four to six weeks from Livezey Lane (Pachella Field) to Gorgas Lane during construction. People travelling along the Yellow Trail will need to use Forbidden Drive between these locations. Detour Signs will be posted.

At both locations, the eroding road/trails are to be decommissioned and restored back to natural habitat. Both routes will be replaced with sustainable trail corridors.

This project was financed in part by a grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Commonwealth Financing Authority.

There will be numerous volunteer opportunities to help build the new trails.  For more information on upcoming work days, visit the Friends of the Wissahickon website.

3/2/2015