Schuylkill River Trail bridge in Union Township opens

When the speeches at the Schuylkill River Trail ended on Monday, Peggy Whittaker took a walk that she had been looking forward to for five years.

Holding a piece of the ribbon she had just cut, Whittaker strode across the pedestrian bridge named for her late husband, Dr. Richard P. Whittaker, a beloved Pottstown Hospital orthopedic surgeon.

The crowd of cyclists, trail ambassadors, dignitaries cheered.

The opening of the pedestrian bridge over Route 724 in Union Township marks the fruition of a decades long collaboration of state and local governments with nonprofits, businesses and private donors like Whittaker. The $1.15 million bridge will make the trail safer and more accessible. It eliminates the steep inclines and dangerous road crossing that made many trailer users turn back.

The spot known as Monocacy Crossing, between Shed Road and North Main Street, has long been a concern of trail users. Decades ago there was a railroad bridge over the road, but trail users now cross the road. The steep descent from the trail to the heavily traveled road makes it dangerous.

During excavation for the project, remnants of the stone wall foundation that old railroad bridge were discovered and incorporated into the structure. Signs will be erected to explain its significance.

The opening of the bridge anticipates a new effort to fill in gaps in the trail, according to Elaine Paul Schaeffer, executive director of Schuylkill River Greenways. The Schuylkill River Trail is planned to be 120 miles stretching from Philadelphia to Frackville, Schuylkill County. About 75 miles are built. The remaining pieces of the trail to be built are in Berks and Schuylkill.

“We’ll celebrate today and tomorrow we’ll get right back at it,” Paul said. “We have many other projects in the works. In Auburn (Schuylkill County) we are finishing a bridge and a trail. Up in St. Clair we’ll build 6 more miles. We’re improving the trail on (Route) 61, and as of next week we’ll be starting with the alignment of the gap between Reading and Hamburg. So we’re very, very busy.”

There are 22 miles of trail to be built between Reading and Hamburg.

Noting increased use of parks during the pandemic, Berks County Commissioner Kevin Barnhardt told the gathered crowd of about 30 that the county’s leaders are committed to supporting the trail completion project.

“We have committed to not only be part of the planning but part of the completion of the trail without any interruptions from here all the way up to Schuylkill County, ” Barnhardt said. “We’re a part of that. We’re committed. On behalf of my fellow commissioners, we want to see this happen in our tenure.”

The bridge had been planned to be completed in 2019, but the organization encountered a shortfall of funds due to increased prices for steel. Then it was set back by the coronavirus pandemic.

Whittaker donated an undisclosed amount to the project. The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources awarded $516,501 for the project. The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission provided $325,636.

Bob Folwell, former Schuylkill River Greenway trails project manager, said the trail and pedestrian bridge was not born of luck but the work of consistent policy and thorough preparation. It involved many people and agencies. He recounted how the organization needed and gained support from the state to become a national heritage area, which gave it the credibility needed to obtain funds.

“It required a planner, Cheryl Auchenbach, to insert a two-sentence paragraph describing the awkwardness and danger of this particular intersection into Berks County’s Open Space and Greenways Plan,” Folwell said. “This identified through an official local document the specific recommendation required by funders to support this bridge project.”

Folwell said the plan came about in the early 2000s, so the bridge project has been around for “quite a while.”

He added that the project highlights the need for long-term and established private-public partnerships. Folwell said it took trust and cooperation.

“It all began with that open space paragraph about 20 years ago,” he said.

For Whittaker, the bridge opening was a joyful celebration of everything her husband was and of their hopes for their community. Friends of the family and people who worked the doctor came to the event.

When the project lacked money to continue, Whittaker stepped forward and donated to it in memory of her husband, said Schaefer. The couple loved the trail. Peggy of Lower Pottsgrove Townshihp still bikes and walks the trail at 81.

Dr. Richard P. Whittaker passed away from cancer at the age of 75 in 2016. He and his wife had traveled the world, not for pleasure but for volunteer medical trips. Whittaker had been to Haiti after the last earthquake, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Panama, Uganda during its civil war, and Thailand after the tsunami, his wife said.

He was the kind of doctor who would respond to patients at the hospital late at night, she said. Some of the speakers, including state Rep. David Maloney, spoke fondly and thankfully about being patients of Whittaker.

Cyclists who came to the ribbon cutting offered personal thanks to the late doctor’s wife just before they pedaled across the bridge toward Reading.

“It’s so exciting,” Peggy Whittaker said. “My husband would be so pleased.”