The Hanover Trolley Trail will be added two miles east of Spring Grove by 2023, and there are plans to restore a stream to a more natural state along the former railroad grade near Hanover before connecting the trail in the future.
Last Thursday, the York County Rail Trail Authority held an open house at Windy Hill On-the-Campus in Spring Grove to answer questions and show maps and diagrams of future plans funded for this year and if what’s next Engineers from CS Davidson, Inc. are available to describe the details.
“We are excited about the turnout tonight. You plan these things and you don’t know how it’s going to go,” said Frank Kempf, chairman of the authority.
The two-mile section of the trail, east of Spring Grove between the borough and the Sunnyside Road overpass, is expected to be completed later this year, said Jeff Shue, a project manager with CS Davidson.
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However, it will not follow an existing portion of the trail that heads east out of the borough along the former trolley line and Met-Ed right-of-way that currently ends at Martin Road. Instead, the new trail path will follow a former Genesee and Wyoming railroad line that runs parallel to the former trolley grade.
The choice of which trail to follow is at the intersection of a trestle, east of Spring Grove that carries the rail line over the trail connection.
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The next project for the trail is floodplain restoration for Oil Creek near Jacobs Mill Road along Route 116 near Hanover, which Shue hopes will be funded and completed by 2024.
The project involves removing silt and returning the stream bed to a more natural state before the railroad is built. The future path of the Hanover Trolley trail will be diverted from the former track path of the railroad. This will allow the stream to more naturally flood the meadow, slowing floodwaters and reducing erosion of the stream channel.
I’ve captured life through a lens since 1983, and I’m currently a visual journalist at the USA Today Network. You can reach me at pkuehnel@ydr.com.
