Chestnut Hill walking options

[boblee]

A friend of mine, of whom I am co-guardian, is in the nursing home on Papermill Rd. about a mile from the Chestnut Hill station. Is there a safe way to walk from the station to the nursing home safely and not on the margins on the highway? I tried taking the L bus, but I can see it is very undependable, the driver was new and not only did not go to the Montgomery/Bethlehem stop (which was my goal), but also drove past the Plymough Meeting Mall. If I could take the Chestnut Hill train and walk to the nursing home I would prefer that. I walk more than 2 miles most every day in town so the distance is no problem.

[Jim Black]

I know the area well, but have not waked it. So I checked out Google earth. It looks like you can do it - with some caution.

Walking up Bethlehem Pike from the CH East Station to Stenton is easy. Stay on the east side (the same side of the street as the station. There is a cross walk across Stenton.

After crossing Stenton, make a left. Paper Mill Rd is just ahead about 50 yards. There is a sidewalk here.

Now it gets interesting. There does not appear to be a side walk for the first two blocks of Paper Mill Rd.

I would recommend crossing Paper Mill and then walk facing oncoming traffic. There are houses on this side of the street and it looks like you can walk on their lawns and stay away from the edge of the road.

Alternately you can continue past Paper Mill and take a right onto Bells Mill. There are sidewalks on this route.

Either way will get you to the second block of Paper Mill where again there are no sidewalks. On this block there are ball fields on the left side. I cannot tell if there is a fence there. I think not. So again you should be able to get pretty far from the edge of the road.

I don’t know how far you need to go, but there are sidewalks and crosswalks from there on - well past Rt. 309.

If I get a chance to drive that stretch, I’ll give you an update.

Good luck!

[Jim Black]

Good news!

The first two blocks of Paper Mill now have sidewalks. They are new and have been installed since Google last updated.

You still need to be careful. There are no pedestrian signals. Stenton and Paper Mill are both 4 lanes of traffic and are busy with fast moving cars.

Again, good luck.

[Mt. Airy Brewer]

You could take Newton Street to Stenton, cross and walk down Birch Lane to Montgomery Avenue and then make a right on Paper Mill. It would be less traffic but take longer.

[boblee]

Thank you both, I will map the route before I try it, probably sometime next week. I appreciate your information.