TRR photo by Diane Glynn The Westfall Town Center, accessible from Route 6, is one of the larger business districts along the Route 6 corridor, and houses most of the 10 top businesses in Pike County.  Ten percent of the top 100 businesses in the Northeast PA quadrant are accessible from Route 6 in Pike and Wayne counties. (Click for larger image)

Rt. 6 Heritage Committee creates a vision

By DIANE GLYNN

RIVER VALLEY — A strategic, unified partnership is being forged for managing resources, preserving and enhancing quality of life throughout the Pennsylvania Route 6 heritage corridor.

The Route 6 corridor, an immense state highway which encompasses 11 counties and countless communities across the northern tier of Pennsylvania, has received a guardian angel in the form of a new steering committee, dedicated to the preservation and enhancement of the road’s history, as well as its future.

In April 2000, the steering committee, comprised of 15 community leaders from counties through which Route 6 leads, plotted a 10-year plan with this vision statement: “Public and private infrastructure make the Route 6 corridor accessible and provide economic opportunities for strengthening communities while enhancing its natural, cultural, scenic, recreational and historic resources.”

Officials say the venture will help boost tourism across the Commonwealth’s upper tier, with an economic “shot in the arm” in a time of national and fiscal uncertainty. Among the recommendations noted by the committee are elevated maintenance of the highway beyond litter management, including the creation of road signs that connect and designate historic areas and attractions, to provide towns with identities, rather than mere mile markers.

Members of the steering committee from the Wayne-Pike area include Pike Commissioner Gerry Hansen and Wayne Planner Ed Coar.

Last Thursday, the Route 6 Heritage Development Steering Committee met with partnering agencies from Wayne and Pike Counties to discuss varying regional resources which potentially strengthen the overall visioning plan. The meeting offered up a new perspective on how heritage preservation can walk hand-in-hand with promoting tourism.

Noting the enormous population increase to the area in the last four months, Phil Hurwitz of the Pike County Visioning Committee said, “Quality of life has become an even more major issue since September 11.” He outlined plans for the completion of a Quality of Life Center in Pike, a project initiated in the late 1990’s.

National Park Service representative Loren Garing explained that the far-eastern section of Route 6 is inextricably intertwined with the Upper Delaware River, reminding members of the steering committee that the over 7,000 visitors annually to the Roebling Bridge and Zane Grey Museum are likely to travel there on Route 6. “Scenic byway signs would be in order on Route 6,” he said. Garing noted that a park-wide trail system extending 200 miles was established as a plan in 2000, similar to the plan to establish Route 6 as a scenic byway.

Funding for the plan will be derived from both public and private sources, local tax abatements and tax credits. A financial development committee will be formed to create special funding sources by offering business re-investment incentives and loan programs.

A positive cooperative effort to strengthen the diversity of what National Geographic magazine has called “One of America’s most scenic drives” is underway.