Behind Penn Community Bank, a set of stone piers stands in Newtown Creek with nothing on top of them. They held the Old Trolley Bridge, which carried an electric trolley from Bristol to Doylestown until 1923. For about a century, no one has been able to cross the creek at that spot. Newtown Township has now chosen a contractor to put a new crossing right beside them.
The decision to build has been made. What's left is a smaller and more local question. Somebody has to cover a gap that runs from roughly $93,000 to $270,000, depending on which budget you use. Who pays will decide whether the 2027 completion date holds and how much of the promised bridge opens on day one.
The trip the bridge would shorten
The new bridge would cross the creek between Frost Lane in Newtown Borough and North Sycamore Street in Newtown Township. On the Borough side, the approach is also described as starting from Frost Lane and Edgeboro Drive. Plans call for a span of about 170 feet, part of a 692-foot walking route between Sycamore Street and Edgeboro Drive.
The Newtown Creek Coalition makes a plain case for it. The northern neighborhoods of the Borough and the Township near the site have no safe crossing over the creek for walkers or cyclists. That leaves them no direct route on foot to the business district along Sycamore Street and Durham Road. Township residents west of Sycamore Street get the reverse: a safer, more direct route to the Borough's commercial center.
That business district keeps changing. Chef Joe Brown opened Mélange on Sycamore in April at 255 N. Sycamore St., in the former Sycamore Grill space, according to Bucks County Today. Right now, getting from a Frost Lane front door to a Sycamore Street dinner table means driving. The bridge is meant to make it a walk.
Howell Engineering of West Chester designed the bridge to look like a late-19th-century wooden railroad bridge. Wire mesh railings will keep the views open, overlooks will face the old piers, and subtle lighting will run along the path.
Sixteen years from idea to contractor
The bridge took a long time to reach this point. Here is the record so far:
- 2006. Local residents and representatives of the Borough and the Township form the Newtown Creek Coalition.
- 2010. The bridge idea is first raised.
- 2018 to 2019. The Coalition finishes the Newtown Common and Creek Restoration Project, which wins the 2019 Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence.
- Late 2019. The Borough and the Township pass resolutions supporting a closer look at the bridge.
- Early 2023. Both municipalities approve engineering and grant work.
- October 22, 2024. State Sen. Steve Santarsiero and State Rep. Perry Warren announce a $999,979 Local Share Account award for the bridge.
- February 2026. Patch reports bids due by the end of March and a target of spring 2027 for completion.
- July 16, 2026. A second round of bids opens. Road Con, Inc. submits the lowest of four revised bids, partly by switching from cable fencing to wooden slip-board fencing along the approach trails.
- September 9, 2026. Township supervisors unanimously accept Road Con's $985,850 bid, on the condition that the Coalition provides more funding.
- October 14, 2026. The board's meeting summary on johnmacknewtown.info reports that the construction contract has been awarded to Road Con.
The second round of bidding is where things slipped. That February coverage described a project fully funded by a state grant. Construction costs rose before the contract was signed.
The arithmetic as of late October
Writing for Newtown Patch on October 18, community contributor John Mack lays out the budget from a Coalition funding report.
| Line item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Construction, Road Con, Inc. | $985,850 |
| Engineering and oversight | $116,750 |
| Administrative expenses | $20,000 |
| Basic project cost | $1,122,600 |
| State grants received, Local Share Account plus $30,000 from the Department of Community and Economic Development | $1,029,979 |
| Gap against the basic cost | $92,621 |
| Coalition's estimate of the full project cost | about $1.3 million |
| Gap against the full estimate | about $270,000 |
Mack adds one more calculation from his review of the Township's bills lists. About $118,000 of grant money had already been spent, leaving $911,590. That is roughly $74,260 less than the construction bid alone.
The obvious way to close the gap is a $100,000 state grant. In a September 2 letter to the Coalition, Santarsiero and Warren wrote that they would work to secure it. They also set a condition on the rest:
"We look forward to commitments from Newtown Township, Newtown Borough, and/or private funding source(s) to contribute any further funds needed to close the gap."
As of the October 18 Patch report, that letter was a pledge to pursue the money, not a grant award. That explains why the totals you may have seen don't match. A September 11 Patch story reported three state grants totaling $1,130,000. That is about $100,000 more than the Coalition's own page lists as received, which is $1,030,000. The difference matches the size of the grant the lawmakers say they will seek.
If the $100,000 does come through, it covers the $92,621 basic gap, though only barely. It does not reach the Coalition's $1.3 million figure. The October 18 report concludes that even with that money, the Township and the Borough may still need to contribute.
What gets pushed back first
The difference between the basic budget and the full estimate shows up on the ground. To cut immediate costs, $46,000 in amenities has been deferred for possible future fundraising. That list includes signage, seating, benches and a trail spur.
Compare that list with the bridge the Coalition has been describing. Its project page promises a landscaped seating area, a path down to the creek's edge, and signs telling the story of the original bridge and trolley line and of Newtown's place in Bucks County transportation history. Some of those features overlap with what was deferred. So the bridge may open as a working crossing first, with the benches and the trolley signs coming later, once the money is raised.
Where the creek is walkable now
Until the bridge opens, the best creekside spot in the Borough is one the Coalition already built. Newtown Common, at the west end of Greene Street, is the northernmost public place in the Borough's open space plan where you can walk along the creek. It has native plantings, seating, interpretive signs and large stones at the water's edge. The restoration also added rain gardens, accessible creek access and solar lighting. In 2021, Coalition members and friends planted 100 native plants there.
For longer walks, the Township's Newtown Trail is a 3.7-mile linear park between Tyler State Park and Silver Lake Park. Its route uses Green Lane, Council Rock North, Swamp Road and Sycamore Street, with branches through the Borough and toward Carl Sedia/Chandler Fields, Roberts Ridge/Goodnoe and Silver Lake. The new bridge would tie directly into this trail. That connection is why the project is pitched as filling a missing link in the local and county trail system.
A continuous creekside path is still some way off. The Borough's open space plan lists a creek walk from the Common to Steeple View as proposed, not built. It also notes that an older wooden footbridge elsewhere on the creek is no longer open to the public. The same plan describes a creekside multi-use path in the Steeple View development and a possible bridge to Carl Sedia Park.
Following it from here
The bridge site isn't new ground for Coalition volunteers. Their cleanup archive records work days behind Penn Community Bank at the old trolley piers in April 2023 and again in May 2024, with Coalition president Mike Sellers among those taking part. The Coalition has also restarted water-quality sampling at sites including Green Street at the Town Common and Barclay Street, and has posted results through March 20, 2026.
Upcoming cleanups are announced through the Coalition's subscriber notices. The Coalition is running the bridge fundraising campaign for both municipalities, and potential donors can reach Michael T. Sellers, Esq., at [email protected]. As of the October 18 report, the $100,000 state grant had not been awarded, and whether the Township and the Borough will contribute toward the gap was still an open question.
Do you live near Frost Lane, Edgeboro Drive or the stretch of Sycamore Street around Durham Road and wonder what this crossing could change about your daily routine? The Walton-Winn Team is happy to walk the area with you and talk it through. Let's talk about your Bucks County home.
