A project to close gaps in the Delaware and Lehigh Corridor trail took another step forward Thursday when Carbon County commissioners accepted a $28,110 proposal from the Wilson Consulting Group of Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County.

"We received a $208,000 grant to get the project done," said Commissioner William O'Gurek.The Carbon County Lehigh and Delaware Trail Connectivity Project is a four-part project."One of them is the Weissport to Lehighton share-the-road, a Lehighton streetscape project that will connect the town to the trail through an alley," said O'Gurek."Then, there's a pedestrian crossing on Route 895 in Bowmanstown that needs work, and almost a mile of trail that needs to be improved, from Route 895 to East Penn boat launch," he said.The work is one of two projects that need to be done in Carbon County to make the entire trail connected, he said.The other job is a pedestrian bridge in Jim Thorpe. The project was ready to be put out to bid when the state withdrew the funding.O'Gurek said the deadline to apply for funding from the Commonwealth Finance Agency is June 20.Wilson Consulting was recommended by trail manager H. Scott Everett.In a letter to the county, Everett cited cost, experience, productivity and efficiency as the deciding factors.He chose Wilson over Barry Isett and Associates of Allentown, and Traffic Planning and Design of Pottstown, Montgomery County.The 165-mile trail wends its way along the Lehigh and Delaware rivers, from following the route of anthracite shipping from northeastern Pennsylvania to the Philadelphia area.