In the 13 years since the Montour Trail Council was founded, portions of their 55-mile long trail network have been built one segment at a time, starting with the simplest and most affordable segments. The more complex and expensive portions in South Park Township and Washington County were deferred until federal funding became available for engineering and construction.
Trail users and activists attending a ceremony on October 18 were pleased to see ground broken for 1.8 million dollars of construction work in between McDonald and Cecil. A special thanks to Bill Sweterlitsch of Coraopolis True Value Hardware for donating the use of their old-time popcorn machine for the ground breaking. It is anticipated that another construction effort will start in South Park Township in 2003.
In 2000, Mackin Engineering started designing all remaining "main line" trail in Washington County. Using part of Mackin's designs, the McDonald to Cecil construction will close a 4.5-mile missing link between two existing trail segments, resulting in 28 miles of continuous trail between Coraopolis and Cecil, missing only a few bridges over roads. The construction work includes installation of a concrete deck and railings on the 1000-foot long McDonald Trestle, and work on a half dozen smaller bridges. Work is expected to conclude in 2003.
A & A Consultants has been hired to design most of the remaining Montour Trail in South Park Township, and will probably complete design of the township's most western trail segment in early 2003. This segment extends from the county line across the 500-foot Library Trestle spanning Route 88 and will continue to Pleasant Street. The Library Trestle will have a concrete deck and railings similar to the McDonald Trestle. It is hoped that construction of this segment can begin in 2003.
Paul McKeown, a member of the Montour Trail Council's Engineering and Construction Committee, expects the trestles to be signature structures of the trail. "Trail users will really enjoy traveling across these trestles," said McKeown. "The Library Trestle will be part of a first of a kind connection for cyclists and pedestrians between the communities of South Park, Peters, and Bethel Park, free of motor vehicle traffic."
The two other remaining pieces of this tri-community trail network are also in the works. Construction of trail connecting the Arrowhead Trail in Peters Township to the Bethel Park Branch of the Montour Trail is expected to be complete in early 2003. Design work has been completed for trail connecting the Arrowhead Trail to the county line, and construction may be underway in 2003. With any luck, trail users may be enjoying nine miles of continuous trail in South Park, Peters Township, and Bethel Park by 2004.
In a final piece of Montour Trail construction news, work is nearly complete on a 2.5-mile segment linking Route 837 in Clairton to the park and ride lot near Route 51 in Large. Asphalt paving of this segment will occur within a few weeks, weather permitting.
More information about the Montour Trail can be found on www.montourtrail.org. Anyone who would like to perform volunteer work for the Montour Trail Council is urged to contact Paul McKeown at 412-835-6692 or at mckeownp@libcom.com. In addition to physical labor, other volunteer jobs include fundraising, staffing informational booths at events, writing newsletter articles, marketing, engineering and legal work.