Work on 1st phase of new Hampton Community Park loop trail set to begin

A new trail through Hampton Community Park won’t just be a place for residents to get a little exercise in the fresh air.

Township officials hope that the 1.5-mile trail will be a first step toward connecting sections of the community and beyond.

“When the current members of council got elected, one of their desires was to create greater connectivity between neighborhoods, people and places,” said manager Chris Lochner. “This trail project gives us the opportunity to pursue that goal.

“I think one of the things that makes this idea so attractive is that it creates the best of both worlds,” Lochner said. “The trails can provide the urban experience of being able to walk to anything you want to while at the same time keeping the suburban areas as they are.”

Work on the first phase — a 39,000-foot section of the trail — is expected to begin in the next several weeks and should be completed this spring, the manager said.

A second phase to complete the trail is expected to be done next year.

When the roughly 10-foot wide crushed limestone loop trail is completed it will connect with an entrance to the Rachel Carson Trail located in the park. The 35-mile long Rachel Carson Trail runs from North Park to Harrison Hills Park in Harrison. There also are plans to construct a paved trail to connect the football stadium to community park.

To create connections between neighborhoods, the township would eventually like to extend the trail into the nearby Whispering Creek and Hidden Pond housing complexes.

“Some of the thinking behind this trail is that someday people will be able to park their car in Hampton and hike to North Park through our trail system,” Lochner said.

Hiking the entire length of the Rachel Carson Trail has been an annual event for the past 23 years. This year’s Rachel Carson Trail Challenge is scheduled for June 19, which is the Saturday closest to the summer solstice. The hike is scheduled close to the summer solstice — the longest day of the year — because most participants need the extra daylight to complete the long-distance trek, according to organizers.

Financing for the project will come from a $200,000 grant from state gaming funds that Hampton is able to match with $300,000 of its own money.

The first leg of the trail will cost about $110,000, which is about $60,000 less than the amount the was budgeted, Lochner said. The unspent money will be used to pay for the engineering of the second phase of work.

Lochner said work on the new trail comes at a time when the park is being used more than ever.

“I’ve been here 30 years and have never see so many people walking in the park as we have in the past year,” Lochner said. “The place is packed on the weekends. The trail has been something the community has wanted to do for years, so it’s great to be able to finally begin work.”