Carbon County is looking to the future and officials see improvements to a portion of the D&L trail that currently runs through the county parking lot in Jim Thorpe.

On Thursday, the county commissioners voted to approve a Pocono Forest and Waters Conservation Landscape mini-grant application for doing a study to see if the section of trail that goes through the county parking lot can be constructed closer to the Lehigh River.Carbon County will provide a $10,000 match if it is successful in securing the grant.The commissioners said they were approached by Jim Thorpe architect Ben Walbert a few months ago asking about creating a trail closer to the Lehigh River.The county now envisions opening up the Lehigh River next to the parking lot for hikers and bikers."We discussed making that part of the river part of the tourism situation in Jim Thorpe so people who come here don't park and then walk away from (the Lehigh River)," Commissioner William O'Gurek said, adding that the goal of the possible project is to draw people to the river and make it safer for people who use the trail.The grant will be used to investigate the area to see if a possible trail or boardwalk is possible on the other side of the guide rail. The current trail leaves Lehigh Gorge State Park, travels up through the rail yard and through the county parking lot. It will eventually connect with the remainder of the trail via a pedestrian foot bridge that will be constructed over the Lehigh River near Turkey Hill later this year.Commissioners' Chairman Wayne Nothstein said that a trail, if it is possible, will enhance the people's experience and provide some additional scenery of the Lehigh River.The commissioners said they are looking at this now, even though this may not come to fruition until years down the road, because of the two bridge projects either underway or scheduled to happen later this year.