SANATOGA PA – It’s taken awhile to put together all the appropriate pieces – ideas, plans, paperwork, and money – to build a proposed boardwalk nature trail at Sprogel’s Run Park in Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township. It also now looks like it will take awhile longer to get trail construction started.

Something like this ... maybe

Bids for the work submitted from three builders all came in over-budget, Assistant Manager Alyson Elliott reported to the Board of Commissioners. That’s not a project-killer, she told board members during their latest meeting (April 21, 2011), but it does mean the township will need to adjust its specifications and re-advertise for bids, taking more time.

The trail through part of the 22-acre park at 75-1/2 Timberview Dr., Pottstown PA, was first conceived during 2008. The plan won grants totaling $75,000 from Occidental Chemical Corp. and the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation to make it happen, but it encountered stumbling blocks since then. Most are related to the state of the economy, and reallocation of money the township itself had earlier planned to spend on the work.

When bids were first sought March 23 (2011), the specs called for “approximately 1,425 (linear feet of) blazed nature trail, and the installation of four boardwalks, two observation areas, five interpretive signs, site furniture, associated grading and drainage improvements, and other related work for a complete project including seeding and landscaping.”

Some of those items must change, Elliott said.

The township wanted to be environmentally conscientious in boardwalk building, and its guidelines called for the use of recycled lumber. As it turns out, what’s old and used is pricey, too; reclaimed timber drove the cost up. In the next bidding round, contractors will be given options on materials.

Although the trail route was marked out two years ago, the specs allowed for flexibility in placing walks and observation platforms. Builders, who expect to make a profit, priced what they thought might be the added cost of risking such flexibility into their estimates. Next time, Elliott said, locations will be specified and the guesswork won’t be an issue.

The “site furniture” cited in the specs (mostly consisting of benches and trash cans) and the interpretive signs that will tell visitors what they’re looking at along the trail, and what else they might look for, are coming out. The township thinks it can have its maintenance department make and install them less expensively.

It could take a few weeks before the bid packages are revised, new specifications sent out, and new bids are received, Elliott said.

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners meeting of April 21):

• Ooops! Builders Tripped Up On Sprogel Run Trail Specs
• Commissioners Happier With Bank Signage Proposal
• Rupert Road Bridge Repair Funds ‘Wait’ In DE Bank
• Spend That Money! Sunnybrook Funds Get Last OK
• Township Plans $375,000+ Suit To Fix Rupert Bridge
• Cooperation Agreement On Commissioners’ Agenda

Photo from Pinecliff Sanctuary