Carbon County is beginning the process to move a portion of the Delaware and Lehigh Trail out of the county-owned parking lot in Jim Thorpe.

On Thursday, the commissioners approved a proposal from Hanover Engineering Associates of Allentown for professional services relating to the design of the connector trail through the parking lot at a cost of $53,800 plus expenses. The money is coming from a $403,986 Transportation Alternatives Set Aside grant from the state that the county received in May.

The county is hoping to create a separate trail closer to the Lehigh River in the parking lot so that pedestrians and bikers have a dedicated trail without having to dodge vehicles trying to park or get out of the lot.

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 the pedestrian foot bridge over the Lehigh River near Turkey Hill that was constructed earlier this year but is closed at this time due to issues with completing another connector portion of the trail in Jim Thorpe.

The idea for moving the section of trail out of the lot began in April 2016 when the county applied for a $10,000 Pocono Forest and Waters Conservation Landscape mini-grant to complete a study of the area next to the parking lot.

Commissioners hired Hanover Engineering Associates at a cost of $21,290 to do a master site plan, which was completed last July.

Officials said Thursday that hikers and bikers shouldn’t expect changes to the current trail in the very near future, because the state is estimating the project coming to fruition in 2021.