Parker Street Landing getting new park at Lackawanna River Heritage Trail's Marvine Colliery section in North Scranton

Jul. 3—SCRANTON — The Parker Street Landing will soon become a park along the Lackawanna River Heritage Trail in North Scranton.

In recent weeks, workers cleared brush, debris and invasive knotweed from several acres of the site. They graded the ground so it's not as rocky in advance of planting grass and making parking areas.

It's the latest project in the past two years at this section of trail by the Lackawanna Heritage Valley Authority, which oversees, develops and maintains the trail.

Two years ago, the organization opened a new trail section along the river through the former Marvine Colliery land.

Last year, the LHVA constructed the Parker Street Landing Canoe and Kayak Launch as a disabled-accessible link from the Marvine trail section to the river's edge.

With several large shade trees kept intact throughout the Parker Street Landing property, the clearing and grading already has the unfinished site resembling a future park.

The large, old trees at the site include northern red oak, red, silver and Norway maples, black walnut, white mulberry and black locust.

The site when completed will be a green space with walking and picnic areas, LHVA Director of Operations Owen Worozbyt said.

The state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources funded the $120,000 project and the contractor is Machieski Construction.

"This is now the whole trailhead development," following the Marvine trail and canoe/kayak launch, Worozbyt said.

The Parker Street Landing property, situated between the river and Boulevard Avenue on the northern side of East Parker Street, includes grounds of some former homes and the former Parker House Tavern that were in a flood plain and removed, Worozbyt said.

The city owns the land and the LHVA approached the city around 2017-18 for easements to make the site into a trail amenity, "so it's not a jungle next to trail, so it's actually useful," Worozbyt said.

The improvement that's underway is impossible to miss for trail users and motorists on East Parker Street, some of whom gave the work a thumbs-up and eagerly await the finished product.

Martin Biel of Biel's Lawn & Landscape Maintenance of Clark Summit at times works nearby and has watched the progress unfold.

"Unbelievable — more of this should be done in Scranton," Biel said. "All of this was unusable. It was absolutely blighted. It was an overgrown jungle. This is what needs to be done in this area to upgrade."

Another big upgrade nearby is on the horizon. The state Department of Transportation plans to remove and replace the East Parker Street bridge over the Lackawanna River, right next to Parker Street Landing.

The bid package for the bridge replacement has been advertised and bids will be opened July 27, PennDOT spokeswoman Jessica Ruddy said.

The bridge project should begin in September with clearing and utility relocations starting first. The old bridge will be closed and traffic detoured in early 2024, and a new bridge should be completed by December of 2024, she said.

Built in 1964, the Parker Street bridge connects North Main and Boulevard avenues and also is a link to and from the Plot and Green Ridge neighborhoods. About 3,500 vehicles use it daily.

PennDOT plans a 3.5-mile detour using North Main and Boulevard avenues and Main Street in Dickson City, which intersects with Boulevard to the north.

Once rated the worst bridge in the county, it was reduced to one travel lane in January 2008 because of a deteriorated beam. A traffic signal alternates east-west traffic flow and only one sidewalk remains open. The existing bridge, 36 1/2 feet wide and a 150 feet long, has a five-ton weight limit.

Contact the writer: jlockwood@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100 x5185; @jlockwoodTT on Twitter.

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