NEWS RELEASE

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA
Department of Conservation
and Natural Resources
Commonwealth News Bureau
Room 308, Main Capitol
Harrisburg, PA 17120

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Terry Brady
DCNR Deputy Press Secretary
(717) 772-9101

NEW DELAWARE CANAL STATE PARK REPAIR WORK IS PROGRESSING SMOOTHLY

HARRISBURG (August 25, 2008) — Intensive repair and renovation work continues along the flood-ravaged Delaware Canal State Park as construction crews restore the park’s historic canal and popular towpath, officials of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources said today.

“For so many people with such a strong allegiance to this park, it has been a long, arduous and costly struggle to restore Delaware Canal after Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and ensuing floods delivered successive knock-out punches to its 60-mile-long waterway and towpath,” said DCNR Secretary Michael DiBerardinis. “Conditions so far this summer have proved to be a boon to large-scale construction efforts that are dependent on favorable weather.”

The secretary explained the absence of heavy rain and flooding has aided work crews as they repair a fish passageway on the Lehigh River at Easton, and rebuild large sections of the canal from Easton, Northampton County, downriver to Yardley, Bucks County. Numerous stone walls, gates, locks and other structures are being repaired in the same area of the park, which parallels the Delaware River from Easton south to Bristol.

All park repairs are expected to be completed in June 2010.

“We have some sections of both the canal and the towpath that were completely washed away,” DiBerardinis said. “Weather has been favorable for this work, as crews are installing a new ‘stabilized turf’ on the towpath which requires seeding. We’ve had just enough rain to enable contractors to get the seed down and sustain its growth.”

Formerly topped with crushed stone, the towpath was scoured clean and heavily eroded by flood waters in some areas. The newly applied mixture of stone aggregate and grass seed should produce a more erosion-resistance surface, the secretary said.

So far, work has begun under four of 11 contracts awarded for flood damage repairs, with the largest contract—$10.7 million—being undertaken for canal and towpath reconstruction by Popple Construction Inc., of Laflin, Luzerne County. Financing for three-quarters of the repair project’s total costs of $37 million is provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Meanwhile, as work crews continue construction projects, including debris and sediment removal, park officials are reminding visitors to stay out of all work zones.

“All construction areas are off-limits to park visitors,” said Delaware Canal State Park Manager Richard Dalton. “When contractors are working in the park, it is their site, their liability and their rules.”

In earlier work shortly after Ivan, two private park support groups committed over $100,000 to help finance canal repairs. Friends of the Delaware Canal and the Historic Delaware Canal Improvement Corporation financed repairs on a 100-foot canal section near the David Library of the American Revolution, Washington Crossing, Bucks County. Removal of debris and replacement of a 100-foot section of washed-out canal embankment and towpath enabled reintroduction of water into the southern half of the canal from New Hope to Bristol.

Two sections of the canal towpath are open: an eight-mile stretch from Upper Black Eddy (Bridgeton Hill Road) south to Smithtown Lock 15/16; and three miles from Centre Bridge south to New Hope Lock 11. Also open is a section of trail not damaged by the storm, from Route 532 in Washington Crossing, south to Bristol.

Congress officially recognized the canal’s importance to the economic evolution of America, establishing the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor in 1998. The canal is a Registered National Historic Landmark and its towpath is a National Recreation Trail.

For more information on Delaware Canal or Pennsylvania’s 116 other state parks, telephone 1-888-PA-PARKS from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday; or visit www.dcnr.state.pa.us (select “State Parks”).

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2008