A popular park in one community in Lackawanna County that has been closed all summer due to a sewer replacement project will be closed for at least another month.
South Abington Township officials had hoped to reopen the park by August but now say it should reopen sometime closer to Halloween.
The gate remains up here at the South Abington Park near Clarks Summit.
Located across from the South Abington Elementary School, it`s a popular place for many in Lackawanna County to spend time outdoors.
The walking trails around the park are still open and there were plenty of people taking advantage.
“The trees, the covered bridge, there`s all sorts of places to take photos, it`s lovely,” said Stephanie Walkowski, a photographer with Sharp Shots Photography.
“It`s really, really nice, we enjoy it a lot, it`s nice to have other dogs and pretty nice place,” said David Lee of Dickson City.
Township officials closed the park in June for a $ 2 million sewer replacement project that runs through the park.
The park was slated to reopen by the end of summer but township manager David O`Neill says, like most construction projects, there were some snags on the way.
“Over on the upper end of the park, where the sewer line will cross under Interstate 81 there was a boring being done and that was held up due to rock and due to other situations,” said O’Neill.
O`Neill says that issue has been cleared up and the park should be open before Halloween.
“Fingers crossed we hope of have it opened in four weeks at the outset, the worst case maybe six weeks,” said O’Neill.
Many are eager to see the park open again.
“Definitely we came once in the beginning before it opened and I was disappointed when I came back because it was closed most of the summer,” said Melanie Lee of Dickson City.
“I walk here almost every night so we miss the extra loop that we can put in,” said Lynette Danvig of Clarks Summit.
The township manager says next year they plan to upgrade the playground equipment and have applied for a grant from the state to help pay for that.