Groups backing connecting trails report progress

WILKES-BARRE – The city and its neighbor Kingston might be the heart of the Wyoming Valley, but there’s one thing they lack that hinders nearby communities: connections to regional recreation trails.

Trails advance toward the city from all directions – the Warrior Trail from the south, the West Side Trail from the north, the Back Mountain Trail from the west and the Delaware and Lehigh Trail from the east – but none connects.

“So we wanted to connect all of those,” said Julie McMonagle, vice president of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council’s northeast regional office.

Having pooled about $80,000 in grant funding, the council is leading a project to outline a master plan to connect the trails in Wilkes-Barre and Kingston to create a regional system. The initial proposal would use rights of way and old railroad lines to designate trails through the city, including one route that would follow West River Road, Ross Street and Northampton Street into Wilkes-Barre Township.

On Monday, organizations involved with the plan met for the second time for a progress update. Rettew, a firm hired to compile the plan, is using in-depth mapping software, digital photos and global-positioning coordinates to identify potential available rights of way. The end product is expected to connect local parks, including Kirby, Coal Street and the Riverfront Commons, now under construction.

The plan is expected to take about a year, but John Maday, a member of the Wilkes-Barre Riverfront Parks Committee, is impatiently awaiting tangible progress. “The reason I bring this up is I’m old,” he said on Monday. “I want to see it. … I want to be on this trail.”

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