The long-anticipated construction of the Lawrence Hopewell Trail’s (LHT) Province Line Road segment is underway, and when completed in about two months, it will add approximately three-quarters of a mile of trail to the biking and walking loop that runs through Lawrence and Hopewell Townships.

The 3,760-foot segment runs along Province Line Road from Route 206 to Bannister Drive, where it crosses into the Foxcroft neighborhood. This link ties Carson Road Woods and Bristol-Myers Squibb Lawrenceville to the north and the Foxcroft neighborhood to the southeast. With the completion of this project, 88 percent — a total of 19 miles — of the 22-mile trail will be completed by the summer of 2017.

Construction of the Province-Line Road trail segment has additional advantages. Storm drainage will be improved with the addition of a concrete curb and drainage structures along the east side of the roadway to properly convey the existing runoff. Also, the reduced roadway width and pedestrian safety improvements will serve as traffic calming measures.

Funding totaling approximately $500,000 for this leg of the trail comes from federal highway funds, administered through the New Jersey Department of Transportation, with Lawrence Township serving as the grant applicant on behalf of the LHT and the residents and users of the trail from Lawrence and Hopewell Townships and beyond.

“We can hardly wait to see members of our community walking and riding their bikes along this critically important leg of the Lawrence Hopewell Trail. Within a few months, we will all be able to walk or ride on the trail from ETS through BMS, down Province Line Road, over Princeton Pike and into the Maidenhead Meadows Park, staying on the trail the whole time,” said LHT Co-President Becky Taylor. “That’s progress.”

The Lawrence Hopewell Trail is a 22-plus-mile bicycle and pedestrian trail and transportation corridor through public and private land in Lawrence and Hopewell Townships. For more information, visit www.lhtrail.org.