Delmont Recreation officials are seeking to expand and smooth out one of the most popular features at Newhouse Park: its heavily used walking trail.
“It’s one of the park’s major attractions during the week,” said recreation board member Stan Cheyne. “There are some cracks and things that need to be repaired, and we have a grant that can be used to resurface the trail.”
The trail loops around the ballfields at Newhouse Park and runs between the tennis and basketball courts.
“We thought we could extend the trail behind the basketball court and make it a little longer,” Cheyne said. “That work would also include decreasing one of the steeper grades on the trail now.”
Recreation officials want to extend the section of trail running parallel to Stotler Road up the hill toward the flatter area by the basketball court.
“We’re trying to maintain a 10 percent grade, which is still steep, but not as bad,” Cheyne said. “That’ll require some earthwork to be done.”
The $100,000 grant requires a $70,000 match. Cheyne said part of the matching cost includes ongoing engineering work, with the hope of putting the project out to bid in early 2027.
“We can also use in-kind services as part of the match, if there are things we can do in-house,” he said.
Cheyne said the trail extension will likely be built using crushed stone.
“We didn’t have money in the grant to use asphalt,” he said. “So it will probably be for the more adventurous walkers and hikers.”
Newhouse Park is not the only trail extension in the works. The nonprofit Delmont Visionary Committee has begun work on the first section of a trail spur that eventually will connect with the Westmoreland Heritage Trail.
As Heritage Trail officials work to clear their final hurdle — crossing Route 66 and connecting the two trail ends into a continuous piece — committee members hope the future spur will bring trail traffic into town for shopping and dining.