A nearly one-mile-long segment of the Lawrence Hopewell Trail that passes through The Lawrenceville School campus has reopened.
The Lawrenceville School, which is a private co-educational boarding school, closed its segment of the trail during COVID-19 for health and safety reasons, school officials said.
The newly re-opened segment, which is 1.2 miles long, is open to the public. It differs slightly from the original trail due to new construction on the campus.
The Lawrence Hopewell Trail enters the campus on Lewisville Road, opposite the segment of the trail through the Bristol-Myers Squibb Corp. property. On campus, it follows a gravel road along the perimeter of Woods Field and then merges onto a paved path.
The trail turns north, toward the center of the campus. It deviates from its former path by turning west and passing Keuffel Stadium. It follows the perimeter road and exits the campus opposite Titus Avenue.
Head of School Steve Murray said The Lawrenceville School is happy to welcome walkers, runners and bicyclists to its segment of the trail.
“The Lawrence Hopewell Trail is a vital community resource,” Marray said. “The continued expansion of the trail helps to connect many beautiful spaces and historic landmarks throughout Lawrenceville.”
David Sandahl, who chairs the Lawrence Hopewell Trail Corp.’s board of directors, said the nonprofit group also is happy to have the trail reopened on the school campus.
“We deeply appreciate the warm welcome from The Lawrenceville School leadership,” he said. “We look forward to a strong and rewarding partnership.”
In addition to re-opening the trail segment, there are plans for an elevated boardwalk to open in the Maidenhead Meadows segment of the trail. The half-mile-long boardwalk means walkers, runners and bicyclists will not have to use Princeton Pike.
A nearby segment of the Lawrence Hopewell Trail will be re-routed from the township-owned Brearley House to a new path through the Pike Town townhouse development next to the office park on Lenox Drive.
Four segments of the Lawrence Hopewell Trail remain to be completed – three of them in Hopewell Township and one in Lawrence Township. The goal is to finish construction of the trail by end of 2026.
One of the three segments in Hopewell Township runs between Moore’s Mill-Mount Rose Road and Pennington-Rocky Hill Road near Bailey Drive. Also, there is a segment between the Mount Rose Preserve on Carter Road to be completed, and another segment along Cleveland Road.
In Lawrence Township, the final segment will extend from the corner of Pretty Brook Road to Province Line Road.
The Lawrence Hopewell Trail has been in the works since 2001. The first segment of the 22-mile-long trail, which connects Lawrence and Hopewell townships, was opened in 2004. It began on Gordon Avenue, meandering its way through the Village of Lawrenceville into Village Park.
