The grant, which is being used by Charlestown Township to conduct a “Devault Trail Activation Study” will help forge a trail connection between Phoenixville Borough and the Great Valley/Devault area in Malvern.
FINAL PLAN: We are pleased to present the final Devault Trail Activation Plan, which was completed in June of 2022. The document has been reviewed and approved by the project Steering Committee, and officially received by the Charlestown Township Board of Supervisors. Please continue to check here for updates, as the project team works toward the next steps in the trail formation process.
May 23, 2022: The TMACC project team held the second of two (virtual) public meetings for the project on April 28th, where they presented the draft plan for the acquisition, ownership, and management of the future Devault Trail. The Team is now in the process of writing and putting together the final project report, which will be available to the public by the end of June, 2022, when the TCDI grant concludes. The project report will be available for download here on the Devault Trail page of the TMACC website.
February 14, 2022: The project team is currently working on specific recommendations for the acquisition, ownership, management, and maintenance of the (future) Devault Trail. These specific recommendations are being reviewed with the municipalities along the trail corridor, the project Steering Committee, and will be presented at a (future) public open house to be held in the Spring of 2022. Finally, the recommendations and the rest of the project background will be written up in a final report that is underway and will be completed by June, 2022.
Of all the unbuilt trail connections in Chester County, the Devault Trail is perhaps the most important, and one that could have a significant impact on connectivity, livability, and increasing future transportation options in the region. The proposed Devault Trail (for which a feasibility study was already prepared in 2015) would utilize a six-mile, dormant freight-rail line to create a pedestrian/bicycle connection between the Borough of Phoenixville to the north, and the office parks and corporate employment centers of Great Valley, located to the southwest.
More importantly, the Devault Trail represents an opportunity to construct an alternate commuter corridor between one of the fastest-densifying communities in the Philadelphia suburbs (the population of Phoenixville is 17,000 and growing quickly) and one of the largest concentrations of employers in the entire Delaware Valley (the daytime population of Great Valley, within a six-mile radius, is 60,000 people). Further, Phoenixville Pike, the road that runs parallel to the proposed Devault Trail, carries over 10,000 vehicles each day.
Thus, the Devault Trail corridor has the potential to remove single-occupancy vehicles from the road, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and greatly improve air quality. Further, the Devault Trail would connect to an existing regional trail in Montgomery County to the north (the Schuylkill River Trail) and several proposed or existing Chester County trails on the south end (the Chester Valley Trail, the Warner Spur Trail, and the Patriots’ Path).
The problem, however, is that despite the work already done to study the trail corridor, the potential ownership and management of the land has not yet been determined. If and when Norfolk Southern Railroad ever relinquishes control of the line, who would they give/sell the land to, and who would manage the future trail? These are the essential questions that the Devault Trail Activation Plan seeks to answer.
Shaped like a dumbbell, the six mile corridor of the proposed Devault Trail spans a variety of environments, conditions, and neighborhoods, with rural and suburban surroundings in the middle and the dense population centers of Phoenixville Borough and Great Valley on the north and south ends, respectively. Because of the number and density of neighborhoods, communities, businesses, interested parties, and stakeholders along the corridor, a comprehensive and thought-out public outreach and engagement process is essential to the success of the project.
The Devault Trail Activation Project team and its partners have a wealth of knowledge about the geographic and political landscape of the area, and will engage all members of the community through:
Community/Stakeholder groups that will be engaged in the Devault Trail planning process include the following:
Further, representatives of the following groups will be asked to serve on the project Steering Committee:
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