Chester Valley Rail Trail is a

rail trail A rail trail or railway walk is a shared-use path on a Right of way#Rail right of way, railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed but may also share the rail corr ...

which runs largely through the Great Valley of Pennsylvania (also known as the Chester Valley) in

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

and Montgomery counties in southeastern

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. The west end is in Exton (Chester County), while the east end is in Norristown (Montgomery County). Phase 1 of the trail was funded by the

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) (), nicknamed the Recovery Act, was a Stimulus (economics), stimulus package enacted by the 111th U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in February 2009. Developed ...

. Phase 2 of the trail's construction was completed in March 2023, adding .

Historical development

The Chester Valley Rail Trail enjoys a rich history closely connected to a number of

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

parks and monuments. The trail runs through Battle of the Clouds Park, a site known for a battle between the armies of General Washington and General Cornwallis in September 1777 in which torrential downpour spoiled the colonial troops' black powder and forced them to retreat prior to fully engaging the British. Additionally, the trail travels within a few miles of the site of the

Paoli massacre The Battle of Paoli, also known as the Battle of Paoli Tavern or the Paoli Massacre, was a battle in the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War fought on September 20, 1777, in the area surrounding present-day Malvern, Pennsylv ...

. Phase 2 of the trail project connected the trail to the

Schuylkill River Trail The Schuylkill River Trail ( , ) is a multi-use trail along the banks of the Schuylkill River in southeastern Pennsylvania. Partially complete, the trail is ultimately planned to run about from the river's headwaters in Schuylkill County, Penns ...

, providing a link to Valley Forge National Historic Park. It opened in March 2023. ChesterValleyTrail3

Trail construction

The Chester Valley Rail Trail idea began in 1991 when

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busine ...

abandoned the former

Reading Company The Reading Company ( ) was a Philadelphia-headquartered railroad that provided passenger and freight transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states from 1924 until its acquisition by Conrail in 1976. Commonly called the Reading Railro ...

Chester Valley Branch, whose route connected the towns of

Bridgeport Bridgeport is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut and the fifth-most populous city in New England, with a population of 148,654 in 2020. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonnock River on Long Is ...

and Downingtown. As there were two parallel railway lines within a mile from the route (built by competitor the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR), legal name as the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, also known as the "Pennsy," was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At its ...

), Conrail considered the Chester Valley Branch redundant and had abandoned most of the route by 1991. A remnant of the branch (from Bridgeport to King of Prussia) survived until May 2011 when short line operator

East Penn Railroad The East Penn Railroad is a short-line railroad that operates a number of mostly-unconnected lines in Pennsylvania and Delaware. Except for two industrial park switching railroad, switching operations, all are former Pennsylvania Railroad or Re ...

abandoned it; this stretch will be incorporated into Phase 2. Authorities from Chester and Montgomery counties, in conjunction with the

Pennsylvania Department of Transportation The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) oversees transportation issues in the Pennsylvania, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The administrator of PennDOT is the Pennsylvania Secretary of Transportation, Michael B. Carroll. PennDOT ...

(PennDOT) looked to convert the road bed into a walking trail. In 2009, PennDOT hired C. Abbonizio Contractors to construct Phase 1 of the trail for $3.2 million. Construction on Phase 2 of the trail began in August 2021 and was completed in March 2023.

Design and construction

The paved trail is wide with an approximately wide right-of-way. The trail's unpaved section near the Great Valley Corporate Center is crushed stone. On May 27, 2010, a truss bridge was built over Church Road in East Whiteland Township. Parking and restrooms are provided at each of the trail's two trailheads. A number of parks, including the Battle of the Clouds Park and Valley Creek Park, are adjacent to the trail.

References

External links

Chester County Parks and Recreation

Traillink.com

Flickr
{{PennsylvaniaRailtrails Rail trails in Pennsylvania