DEP Holds 1st air quality festival in Upland, Delco Planning Dept. seeks trail advice
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection held its first quarterly air quality festival at the Redwood Recreation Center in Upland Park to publicly present air quality measurements from October to December 2025 along the I-95 corridor and waterfront industrial area. It will continue to measure and present results to the public quarterly through December 2027.
At the same time, the Delaware County Planning Department showcased maps of the Crozer Creek Trail and solicited public opinion about the path that the planned Chester Creek Connector Trail should take through or around Toby Farms.
According to Dan Hackenberg, an air quality control specialist at the PA DEP, obtained a grant about a year and a half ago to conduct the air quality study and will be able to use the results to make recommendations about pollution from industries and transportation when the DEP makes environmental decisions about traffic and industries along the corridor. The DEP air quality study is independent of another montitoring project being conducted by the Clean Air Council and other environmental groups.
The DEP’s monitors were installed over the course of the last year and were able to capture a baseline of results from October to December 2025. The department is also running a dashboard that shows users the air quality being measured at each of its sensor sites in real time.
The monitoring area includes Chester City, Trainer, Marcus Hook, Lower Chichester, and parts of Upper Chichester, Chester Township and Upland.
The DEP is holding a second air quality monitoring project spring festival March 28, from11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the CAAT Center Headquarters, 2300 W. 4th St., Room A211, in Chester. It plans to hold these public festivals every three months throughout the two-year monitoring project to update residents on the ongoing results.
To read the October-December 2025 report and view the daily dashboard click HERE. You can also sign up for the DEP’s air monitoring newsletter to get updates about upcoming public meetings HERE.
The sensors are monitoring particulate matter, ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and nitrogen dioxide, Hackenberg said. The data will be analyzed by environmental scientists at Johns Hopkins University.
The Chester Creek Trail and Connector Trail
A ribbon Cutting ceremony for the new Crozer Creek Trail will take place on Earth Day, Wednesday, April 22, at Crozer Park in the 1400 block of Kerlin and Finland St. in Chester. The trail is a beautiful new place in Chester to walk, move, relax, and reconnect with nature.
Eventually the Crozer Creek Trail will be connected to the Chester Creek Rail Trail through Middletown and Aston and all the way down to the Delaware Riverfront, according to Sophia Peterson of the Delaware County Planning Department.
Peterson was soliciting public opinion from Upland residents about whether to route a planned Chester Creek Connector Trail directly through the Toby Farm development in Upland or around the development in a more indirect route through less developed land.
The Planning Department will hold a community meeting Monday, March 30, from 4 to 6 p.m. at Chester City Hall Community Room to present the alternate plans for the connector trail and solicit public input. The trail will connect the existing Eyre Park Trail with the East Coast Greenway planned along the south side of Rt. 291. Contact Amanda Johnson 610-447-7793.
PHOTO/Clearinghouse Upland residents study air quality maps at Redwood Recreation Center
