Promoting Public Recreation while Mitigating Environmental Impacts - Creating a Morris County Shared Use Path
Start Date
2-12-2024 3:45 PM
End Date
2-12-2024 5:00 PM
Access Type
Open Access
Abstract
Old railroad lines can make ideal recreational pathways for various users while promoting connectivity, community engagement, and physical exercise. When NYS&W Railroad offered a section of abandoned line between the Townships of Wayne and Pequannock, New Jersey to be transformed into a five-mile paved trail, Morris County agreed. However, constructing a shared use path requires much more than just removing rail and laying asphalt; numerous engineering challenges included the construction of a 2,150’ elevated trail and a new bridge through the bed of Glacial Lake Passaic, as well as the rehabilitation of a 1915 3-span rail bridge over the Pompton River. The mitigation of adverse environmental impacts governed much of the design and construction, well beyond just the occasional flooding.
Biography
Danielle Malavarca earned a B.S. in Civil & Environmental Engineering from Rutgers University in 2012. She joined the engineering department at the County of Morris in 2017, where she specializes in bridge design and construction, with previous experience in site & structural design, and working closely with State agencies as required by the design process, such as NJDOT and NJDEP. Given her design background, and as an avid cyclist, she was selected to review the plans for a 5-mile-long rails to trails project to get it through the permitting process, then ultimately take over as Project Manager for the trail’s construction.
Promoting Public Recreation while Mitigating Environmental Impacts - Creating a Morris County Shared Use Path
Old railroad lines can make ideal recreational pathways for various users while promoting connectivity, community engagement, and physical exercise. When NYS&W Railroad offered a section of abandoned line between the Townships of Wayne and Pequannock, New Jersey to be transformed into a five-mile paved trail, Morris County agreed. However, constructing a shared use path requires much more than just removing rail and laying asphalt; numerous engineering challenges included the construction of a 2,150’ elevated trail and a new bridge through the bed of Glacial Lake Passaic, as well as the rehabilitation of a 1915 3-span rail bridge over the Pompton River. The mitigation of adverse environmental impacts governed much of the design and construction, well beyond just the occasional flooding.