Bergenfield's Next Twin Boro Park Trail Follows the One Walkers Already Made

Who drew the trail map for the woods on the west side of Twin Boro Park? Nobody planned it. The borough's own description says the paths were "established through pedestrian use." Over the years, footpaths running west of the athletic fields became a trail network on their own, with a way in off Florence Street.

That network is now the outline for an engineered project. Bergenfield's Phase 2 plan puts a lit shared-use path for walkers and cyclists through that same wooded area. It is the latest in a series of park projects that formalize something people were already doing on the ground. The engineering files show the park evolves this way. The funding calendars show why the woods will look the same for a while.

What the Phase 2 plan actually draws

The borough's Public Information Center notice describes the park as it stands today. It covers about 24.73 acres with two synthetic turf fields, a dog park, parking areas, wooded trails, and "a nonfunctional swim club building." Walkers get around on a mix of paved walkways, informal dirt trails, and mowed paths. An asphalt trail runs east of the turf fields. A gravel lot sits in the northeast corner, and the notice points out it has no paved surface and no ADA-compliant parking.

Here is the plan for each piece:

The notice states the goal plainly:

"The goal of the project is to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety and meet ADA compliance as well as improve pedestrian connectivity to the park from the surrounding community."

The new pathways are meant to connect to adjacent neighborhoods. In practice, the side entrances walkers already use become part of the official design.

The money arrived years before the shovels will

The pace makes more sense once you see where the money comes from. The New Jersey Department of Transportation's FY2023 Transportation Alternatives Set-Aside list shows $724,000 for "Twin Boro Park Improvements Phase 2" in Bergenfield. According to the borough, engineering design, construction, and construction inspection are all reimbursed through the federal program, which NJDOT Local Aid administers.

With federal reimbursement comes a federal process. As of the September 2026 notice, the schedule reads:

1. Preliminary engineering, expected to finish by December 2026.
2. Final design, starting after that and running through April 2028.
3. A second public information session during final design, date not yet announced.

The notice gives no construction start date. Counting from the FY2023 award to the end of final design, the path will have been in design for about five years before any construction contract shows up on a published schedule. Until then, the woods loop stays a set of dirt footpaths through at least two more autumns.

The pattern started with the fields

Phase 2 follows the same logic as the earlier work. The turf fields began as the former "Vivyen Field." In 2019 and 2020, the borough's engineering firm, T&M Associates, completed environmental assessments for converting it. On August 13, 2021, NJDEP approved wetlands permits for two multipurpose synthetic turf fields. The permits also covered drainage, sports lighting, team benches and bleachers, accessible seating, and an 8-foot-wide asphalt walkway. A second round of work in 2022 added more walkways and new light poles.

Each step upgraded a use that was already there. A ballfield got a better surface and lights. Walking routes got paved. Now the trail through the woods gets surfaced and lit. The 2024 environmental assessment says the park "is heavily used by the public throughout the year," and that steady use is what the plans are built on.

A separate grant, a separate list of amenities

The fields and the trail aren't the only projects. In April 2025, the state's Urban Parks program awarded Bergenfield a non-matching grant of $2,085,691 for "Twin Borough Park Improvement Project – Phase 3." The borough had asked for $2,758,000. According to the DEP's project description, Phase 3 covers three pickleball courts, two volleyball courts, a park pavilion, fencing, a new parking lot, and parking lot lighting.

The borough's original application asked for more. T&M's February 2024 assessment listed 122 new parking spaces, a playground, a splash pad, a multi-purpose trail, a basketball court, and a sidewalk connecting to Ames Avenue, along with the courts and pavilion. The funded description is narrower. The playground and splash pad from that application don't appear in what DEP describes as funded. No construction dates for Phase 3 have been published.

So Twin Boro Park now has two grant-funded improvement tracks running at once. Each one comes from a different agency with its own calendar. Phase 2 is a transportation grant built around walking and cycling access. Phase 3 is a parks grant built around courts and gathering space. Both plans include a new parking lot, and the documents describe them separately.

The building that predates all of it

One structure appears in every plan and none of the improvements. The Bergenfield Swim Club was formed in 1975 to run a pool on land leased from the borough. According to Daily Voice reporting from September 2015, the club had been losing money since 2009. It didn't open in 2014 or 2015, and it couldn't afford to fix a crack at the bottom of the pool. In 2017, The Record reported that New Jersey Swimming Group, a Belleville company, was interested in building an indoor aquatic center on the site. The article described discussions, not an approved borough plan.

The September 2026 notice still lists it as a nonfunctional building. It is the one part of the park that hasn't been folded into a phase.

What stays put while the paperwork moves

Several parts of the park are planned to stay as they are. The 2024 assessment says the Bergenfield Dog Park will remain on site, and Phase 3 adds parking next to it. On the east side, wooded wetlands along Hirschfeld Brook run south through the property. Cars still come in from Twin Boro Lane on the east and Harrington Street on the south.

The name is older than any of these phases. The Bergenfield Public Library's local history archive holds a December 1968 engineering report titled "Engineering Report for Proposed Twin Boro Park Boroughs of Bergenfield and Dumont." The park's name comes from that joint plan for the two boroughs.

The first look at the trail plan is October 14

The first of the two public sessions is Wednesday, October 14, 2026, from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m., in the third-floor Council Chambers at Borough Hall, 198 North Washington Avenue. You can come at any point during that hour. Preliminary construction plans will be on display, and the project team will take questions and comments. Comments can also go in by mail or email. The notice adds that tenants are invited, along with property owners. The borough's Phase 2 project page already has the handout, a mile-marker map, an overall view, and separate parking and trail displays. The contacts listed are Borough Administrator Corey Gallo and Thomas R. Lemanowicz, PE, of Greenman-Pedersen, Inc.

The trail display shows where the shared-use path will run through the west woods. That is the area walkers have been using as a trail on their own for years.

At Stacy Esser Group, we follow how public projects like the Twin Boro Park phases move from grant award to finished amenity across Bergen County. If you'd like to talk about what that timing means in Bergenfield, Schedule a Meeting Today.