The Morris Canal Working Group held its bi-annual virtual meeting on December 9, spotlighting improvements along the entire Morris Canal Greenway corridor and at Waterloo Village, potential Greenway land acquisition, planned wayfinding signs and the North Jersey Trail Network Initiative.
Wharton’s Morris Canal towpath preservation project was awarded $1.3 million from the state for fiscal year 2025. The award was part of more than $29.37 million in Transportation Set-Aside Alternative (TASA) state funding, according to Sascha Frimpong, Senior Director, Local Project Development. Before construction of phase one, the Wharton towpath project will also focus on the canal bank, a diversion dam, and inlet control, she said.
Waterloo Canal Museum Improvements
In the meantime, improvements continue at Wharton’s Lock 2 East with renovations to the Lock Tender’s House to make it look like it did when a locktender was on duty, and period-appropriate furnishings and decor.
The Canal Museum at Waterloo Village received upgrades, including paint and room air conditioners. Major exhibit improvements are planned in the next year, according to Joe Macasek, president of the Canal Society of New Jersey.
The Canal Society and Waterloo are working to get a prefabricated and light-vehicle bridge constructed at the existing stonework on each side of Waterloo’s dilapidated mule bridge, Macasek said. The original bridge allowed people to cross the river near the grist mill. “We’d rather have what we want, but we’re very pleased to possibly get what we need, and that will open new programming,” Macasek said, with canal features on the other side of the river.
Two satellite Morris Canal sites are making progress thanks to grants from the New Jersey Historic Trust. In Little Falls, Passaic County, $470,000 helped to build out the interior of Old Town Hall, part of which will be exhibit space and visitor center for the Morris Canal Greenway. Macasek said they’re targeting July to have exhibits in place. Similarly, the Collins House in Bloomfield, Essex County, has been returned to useful condition thanks in part to $450,000 in funding. It will also include Morris Canal Greenway exhibit space. The historic building is next to the site of Inclined Plane 11 East, which is now JFK Parkway.
More than a dozen wayfinding projects are planned across the Greenway in 2026, including:
- Stanhope – four interpretive panels
- Roxbury – Wayfinder signs in Ledgewood, interpretative signs in Shippenport, and a turbine artifact at Canal Park
- Belleville – five Wayfinder signs
- Montville – two replacement interpretive signs
- Rockaway – site of Inclined Planes 2 and 3 East
Acquisitions in Rockport and Possibly Phillipsburg
The acquisition of land in Rockport for a quarter-mile trail along Route 57 by Warren County was developed into the Rockport Morris Canal Greenway Trail. Efforts of the Warren County Parks Foundation and the NJ Youth Corps were critical to this project.
More than 30 acres along the Phillipsburg riverfront Greenway could be acquired through a partnership between Phillipsburg and the state. The goal is to connect the riverfront to the Main Street section, CSNJ Vice President Tim Roth, said. Port Delaware was where canal boats first came in, and it included a basin and toll collector’s office, which is now a park.
If acquired, the parcel could extend the Greenway along the Delaware River. Currently, Lock Street connects to Main Street, which could extend to Port Delaware to the Entrance Arch at the western end of the canal, he said.
The Warren County Morris Canal Committee funded, constructed and installed sign kiosks at several Greenway locations including:
- Plane 10 West
- Phillipsburg
- Port Murray
- Kuipers Park, Hackettstown
“Interpretive signage is very important because if you’re going to build these trails and uncover these assets, people have to know what they’re looking at; you have to tell them the story,” Roth said.
North Jersey Trail Network Initiative
Tiffany Robinson, Trails and Active Mobility Director, for the New Jersey Bike Walk Coalition (NJBWC), updated the group about the North Jersey Trail Network Initiative. The effort kicked off in February and aims to link six counties: Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Union, Morris, and Passaic counties.
“What we’re doing is really reimagining that these trails can be not just for recreation things to we can use to address our climate issues, mobility and infrastructure, being able to move actively and really looking at it as a place we’re trying to make safe for people who want to walk, bike and roll in their communities,” Robinson said.
A recording of the Morris Canal Working Group meeting can be found on the Morris Canal Greenway website.