Trails are more important now than ever. In fact, due to COVID-19, many of Chester County’s trails have seen an increase in use over the past year, with some averaging more than fifty-percent.

The Chester County Planning Commission helps to advance the Circuit Trail network, the Greater Philadelphia’s multi-use trail network, by conducting feasibility studies and providing ongoing support for trail development within municipalities throughout the county. Additionally, the Planning Commission actively tracks the status of the current Circuit Trail projects in and around Chester County in order to share information with the public and facilitate a unified trail network.

As part of this ongoing effort, the Planning Commission recently launched an interactive Circuit Trails Status Map to track the status of each Circuit Trail segment within Chester County. Each trail features a tab that includes an interactive map, along with the status of the existing, proposed, and in-progress work. The map currently features status updates for the following trails: Schyulkill River; Chester Valley, Struble, Uwchlan, Brandywine, and the Devault/Warner Spur.

Through the map, users can easily see the status of each project and click through the trail’s segments for a more detailed description. Details found on the map include the trail name and use, the responsible agency, whether or not it’s active, its length, and comments regarding the most recent status update. An additional search page allows users to search for active projects.

Check out the interactive map to see updates such as, the Schuylkill River Trail is going into construction this year and is anticipated to be finished by the end of 2021; the Route 100 crossing of the Chester Valley Trail should be complete by the end of August; and that the county plans to start design and engineering for the next mile of the Struble Trail through Marsh Creek State Park sometime this year.

For more information about trail planning and projects in Chester County, please visit https://www.chescoplanning.org/transportation/TrailPlanning.cfm. For questions, please contact Brian Styche, Environment and Infrastructure Director, at bstyche@chesco.org.