The Reservation’s Rahway Fairy Trail and all of the Locust Grove parking lot are undergoing major improvements and will be closed from July 8th through around August 10th. Work on sections of the River Trail, which started June 15th, will continue through the end of July. The South Orange parking lot near Hemlock Falls, which had been closed, is now open. During the period when the Locust Grove parking is closed, a Lenape Trail Detour created by the Conservancy will be available. It connects Glen Ave. to the picnic area, is flagged with yellow ribbon and has arrow signs at either end.
This major $1.2 million project is being funded by a NJ Green Acres grant and Essex County’s Open Space Trust Fund. Planned by the Essex County Parks and Public Works Departments in consultation with the South Mountain Conservancy, it will enhance the experience of Fairy Trail visitors by improving the Locust Grove parking area and offer a sidewalk for safe passage, and create better paths and drainage along the trail. Rustic benches and a 24-foot diameter, six-sided shelter at the high point of the trail (to be installed in late September) are planned.
Penni Malakates (left), SMC operations director, and Beth Kelly, Fairy Trail program coordinator sitting on one of the new benches.
The work on the River Trail encompassed around two-thirds of its entire length from Locust Grove to South Orange Avenue and allows better access for medical and fire emergency vehicles. It is part of a long-term safety plan involving multiple woods roads throughout the reservation developed by the Conservancy.
Design work was developed by Suburban Consulting Engineers of Flanders, NJ, and construction is being done by Picerno-Giordano Construction of Kenilworth, NJ.