Lopez Backs Project to Re-Use Abandoned Railroad Bridge for New Trail in Milton

Abandoned for years and hidden behind years of overgrowth, thanks to State Senator Ernie Lopez this old wooden railroad bridge is going to become part of a trail in Milton.

Thanks to strong support from State Senator Ernie Lopez, an ambitious project to build a paved bike path between Lavinia Street and Federal Street, and to connect the now-isolated Wagamon’s West Shore subdivision into Milton using an abandoned railroad right-of-way, will break ground next year.

Part of the new pathway will cross the Ingrams Branch river in Milton where an old wooden railroad bridge has long sat abandoned and hidden behind years of overgrown weeds. One of the central uncertainties of the project was whether this old bridge was still structurally sound enough to be re-purposed for a bike trail. DelDOT investigated this issue earlier this year and determined that the old bridge was still sound and could have a happy second career as part of Milton’s growing “low stress” bicycle network.

Like most awesome new bicycle infrastructure being built in Delaware, the new Milton Trail project will be managed by DelDOT and funded using transportation capital funds from the federal government. But the project would not be moving forward without critical financial backing from State Senator Ernie Lopez, who is providing half of the critical local matching funds that the federal government requires by law.

WRDE reporter Mallory Metzner recently interviewed Senator Lopez and Milton Town Manager Kristy Rogers about the project: