The long-awaited plan to connect the Nor-Bath Trail to the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor Trail is moving along.

Northampton Borough Council, at its Aug. 18 meeting, approved documents detailing the trail design. The paperwork will be forwarded to North Catasauqua Borough Council for its review.

Scott Everett, D&L Trail manager, outlined the progress being made for the proposed trail extension and the next steps.

A pedestrian bridge across Dry Run Creek in Northampton will act as the connector between the Nor-Bath Trail and the D&L Trail in North Catasauqua.

Actions to be taken by the borough include signed agreements from the Horwith family, easements from the Northampton Borough Municipal Authority, temporary construction easements for tree removal, and the trail and bridge construction.

Signatures from North Catasauqua for the D&L Trail construction are also needed.

Borough Manager Leroy Brobst said some of the items already have been addressed and no issues are contemplated.

Everett said grants have been awarded to the borough, including $160,000 from the state for the design of the trail connection and $250,000 from a Northampton County Open Space grant for the trail construction.

Tree removal can occur in September.

The Dry Run pedestrian bridge project will be put out for bids in September, the contract awarded in October and the final design completed in November. The Nor-Bath Trail extension would be at the rear of the NBMA complex and Newhard Pharmacy, off 10th Street.

In a letter this month to Northampton Borough Council President Anthony Lopsonzski Jr., Bryan Cope, Northampton County Open Space coordinator, wrote, “I am pleased to hear the Nor-Bath Extension and D&L Trail project are being completed through efforts from our many partners.”

Cope stated Northampton County Council in April 2015 approved funding for the construction of the 1.3-mile section of the D&L Trail through Northampton and North Catasauqua.