D&R Canal Towpath / East Coast Greenway closed in Franklin Township

Driving past the Amwell Road trailhead of the Delaware and Raritan Canal Towpath two weeks ago I saw something rather unusual.  There was a six foot tall fence blocking off the entire trailhead parking lot, including access to the trail itself.  Today as I was out riding my road bike, I purposely pedaled past the trailhead to get a closer look.  There was a sign on the fence indicating the following:

The towpath from AMWELL ROAD (RT 514) TO THE WESTON CAUSEWAY will be CLOSED FROM JANUARY 21 THROUGH JUNE 30 due to repair work on the spillway. Also note there will be NO ACCESS TO/FROM COLONIAL PARK VIA THE PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE. Please plan your routes accordingly.

View D&R Towpath / East Coast Greenway Closure in a larger map

Above is a map of the trail closure and one potential detour.  Be aware that the traffic volume on Amwell Road can be rather high and there is no shoulder.  Also the crossing at Manville / Weston Causeway can be tricky and extra caution should be taken.  Millstown River road is also a possibility detour but the traffic can be high in this road as well.

Noting the above hazards, its a shame that the trail had to be closed for this entire stretch.  The spillway being reconstructed (red point) is north of the Colonial Park Bridge (green point).  It would have been nice to keep the trail open to the Colonial Park Bridge as a detour through the park (green line) would have eliminated the most hazardous Amwell Road leg.  However when I was there, the Amwell Road trailhead was being used as a staging area for the contractors and heavy equipment was being driven on the towpath.  Still, it would be nice to at least keep the part of the trail open when construction is not being done, like on weekends.

Another note of importance found on the Delaware and Raritan Canal Commission website was this:

The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission will be conducting a renovation and rehabilitation to the pedestrian bridge located at Bulls Island Recreation Area Day Use Area. The foot bridge will be CLOSED to the public between SUNDAY, MARCH 3, 2013 TO FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013. Please plan your routes accordingly.

View Larger Map

As many of you know, the elegant suspension footbridge over the Delaware connecting Bulls Island and Lumberville PA is an important connection for many cyclists.  The next closest bridges at Stockton and Frenchtown are miles away.  I crossed the bridge just 11 days ago and no notices were posted of the pending two month closure as of yet.

Delaware & Raritan Canal Towpath repaired and resurfaced

The Delaware & Raritan Canal Towpath is in the process of being resurfaced to repair flood damage from Hurricane Irene back in September.  Much of the work is likely to have already been completed but there could still be some rough spots particularly in the area south of South Bound Brook which saw some very bad damage.  From the look of things that I saw, the towpath looked as good as it was just prior the Hurricane Irene and likely better.

The freshly resurfaced pathway at the Manville Causeway.

However, it would appear that once again no binding agent was used to help cement the crushed red shale aggregate together from water caused erosion.  A quick and low effort pawing at the surface with my shoe easily put a divot in the surface an inch deep.  This calls into question whether the trail surface will just wash away again in the next flood just as I predicted the first time I reported the trail resurfacing nearly two years ago.  

In other D&R news, there is a minor but well marked detour in South Bound Brook as some sort of major earth moving is being done between the canal path and the Raritan River near the Queens Bridge over the Raritan.  Fortunately, when the factory site was redeveloped in S. Bound Brook a number of years ago, the old train bridge that went over the canal to access the old factory was saved and an access path was built to allow easy and convenient access to the canal from the local neighborhood (many locals could be seen accessing the towpath when I stopped for a quick look).  This wise move years ago is now paying off as this access now provides a critical function allowing for a simple and safe detour and not one that would require trail users to ride on a dangerous section of Easton Ave near Interstate 287.

Oh yeah!  Don't forget that the D&R Canal Towpath is a large and vital link of the East Coast Greenway here in New Jersey.

Delaware & Raritan Canal Towpath severely damaged

As part of my work with the East Coast Greenway Alliance I spent some of my time last week inspecting the flood damage wrought by Hurricane Irene here in the New Brunswick area.  While the stretch that goes through Johnsons Park in Piscataway and Highland Park escaped relatively unscathed, the Delaware & Raritan Canal Towpath section just outside of New Brunswick suffered sever damage.

For much of its length the D&R Towpath lies in the flood plan of both the Raritan and Millstone Rivers leaving it highly susceptible to flood damage.  Unfortunately with record setting rains and high winds from Irene, it is no surprise that the damage was really bad on the section between Landing Lane in New Brunswick to Easton Ave at South Bound Brook.  This six mile section of the trail was barely passable last week.  What normally takes me less than half an hour to ride took me over two hours due to numerous blow-downs and sever scouring and erosion of the once smooth trail surface. It's safe to say that this section of the Towpath and East Coast Greenway is closed for the foreseeable future.

One of the more imposing blow-downs made more interesting by the poison ivy covering the blown down tree trunks.

The once beautiful and smooth red shale installed and reported about here last year was almost entirely swept away.  The erosion was so bad in places that the levee that the trail travels over was almost breached in about 6 different locations, nearly causing the canal to spill into the river. The levee is clearly structurally unsound in these locations and the trail unsafe.

September 2010.

This same exact section August 31st 2011.

Just one example of the severe erosion that nearly breached the canal, almost sending its waters into the Raritan

Finally the bridge that provides access to the towpath and ECG at Demott Lane was washed into the canal leaving no access at this point. This never happened before with any of the previous flooding events over the past 20 years and is an indication of how bad the flooding was with Hurricane Irene.

Only the bridge footings remain at the Demott Lane trail access.  The bridge itself can be seen in the background.

Damage to the D&R towpath extends well beyond just this section.  It is safe to say that just about every yard of the towpath from New Brunswick to Trenton has been negatively impacted by the flooding even though it may still be open and passable.  With that in mind, DO NOT expect the open sections of the trail to be as easy going as they were before Irene.

For more information about the D&R Towpath see the NJ Division of Parks and Forestry Website.  For the complete photo survey of the damage along the East Coast Greenway in Johnsons Park and D&R Towpath, see the slide show below.