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Wednesday, April 02, 2003

By Bob Batz Jr., Post-Gazette Staff Writer

The largest rail-trail system in the 50 states is getting some more financial green to grow, as the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has announced more than $1.6 million in grants for building 45 more miles of trail.

There's money for several projects in the Pittsburgh area, including:

$200,000 for the Alle-Kiski Revitalization Corp. to acquire a permanent easement on approximately 7.8 miles along the Allegheny River -- in Oakmont and Plum in Allegheny County and in New Kensington and Arnold in Westmoreland County. It's to be part of what's been called the Allegheny Valley Trail that eventually is to connect to the Strip District.

$140,000 for Freeport, Armstrong County, to design and construct an additional 3.5 miles of the Butler-Freeport Community Trail.

$100,000 for the Regional Trail Corp. to develop the 6-mile Coal and Coke Trail between Scottdale and Mount Pleasant in Westmoreland County.

$100,000 for the Cambria and Indiana Trail Council to develop 12 miles of the Blairsville Secondary Trail between Blacklick and Dilltown in Indiana County -- part of the Ghost Town Trail system.

$70,000 for the Montour Trail Council to further develop 1.4 miles of its trail in Peters.

Other projects getting grants to transform former railroad rights of way into recreational trails, in 13 counties across the state, include a pedestrian bridge across the Conemaugh River on the West Penn Trail in Cambria County and two miles of the Kinzua Valley Trail in McKean County.

Michael DiBerardinis, secretary of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, also announced a $240,000 grant to further develop the Great Allegheny Passage between the Salisbury Viaduct and the Big Savage Tunnel in Somerset County. That'll be another step toward linking Pittsburgh by trail with Washington, D.C. He pointed to the economic and other activity already occurring on finished parts of that stretch and said this year's grants are meant to create more critical mass.

"Whether it involves the completion of a missing segment, the extension of an existing trail, or the bridging of a gap, the recreation and economic value of each project is multiplied."

Pennsylvania's 116 open rail-trails rank it No. 1 in the nation, according to the state office of the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. The state also is first in the number of rail-trails under development (87). Since 1995, it has almost tripled its number of rail-trail miles -- to 1,211 from 432.

The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources' rail-trail program provides up to 50 percent of the money for planning, acquisition and development of rail-trail corridors.

The department, the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and other groups will celebrate these "greenways" by holding the Pennsylvania Greenway Sojourn, a trip by bike and raft in the northeast this July 19-25. For more information, visit http://rtc.railtrails.org/field/pennsylvania.