The largest single project tackled by volunteers in 2004 was the construction of 1.4 miles of new trail in Peters Township, from the Arrowhead Trail at Library Junction behind the horse farm eastward to the Allegheny/Washington County line. In the parlance of MTC engineering & construction weenies, this project is known as Phase 11.

Beginning in March, thirty volunteer workers cleared the right of way of trees, vegetation and stumps with chainsaws and brush cutters and cleared truckloads of manmade debris. Included in the cleanup were dozens of discarded concrete slabs, many weighing over one ton, and a large assortment of metal detritus from the railroad and past littering that totaled nearly 6000 pounds.

Next was building a construction access through the property of Betlers Construction capable of supporting triaxle dump trucks weighing over 30 tons across the headwaters of Piney Fork Creek onto the right of way. During this whole project, Al Betler Jr. has been an extraordinary trail neighbor, not only by allowing us temporary use of his land for access, but for donating materials for the access bridge, and for spending hours of his personal time help out with his own equipment. Thanks, Al!

This section of trail is a challenge in terms of drainage control and fixing past water damage. Due to these conditions, there was considerable repair work needed to correct the extensive erosion and damaged culverts. Also, many hundreds of feet of newly installed under drains, storm water piping, inlets and culverts necessitated excavation and installation with heavy equipment. Maintaining a haul road for the delivery of over 10000 cubic yards of fill material (to bring the trail elevation behind the horse farm close to what it was when the railroad was still operating) and installing a recycled asphalt paving sub-base kept the MTC's small stable of construction equipment busy. Volunteers operated dump trucks, front-end loaders, backhoes, the MTC grader and roller, and a Frank Ludwin-designed spreader box, making up a large portion of the volunteer hours expended.

So far, over 1700 volunteer hours have been expended on this project. The approximately $28000 of value that these volunteer hours represents a large portion of the local match we need for the $70000 DCNR grant being used to fund this construction. Volunteers who have donated at least ten hours of their time to Phase 11 so far are: Bill Capp, Andy Glade, Hoyt Hall, Mark Imgrund, John Kozak, Frank Ludwin, Jim Robbins, Terry Tischler, and Dave Wright. Special mention should be made of four of these individuals who have each donated over 200 hours of their time to this project alone, and whose combined hours comprise 79% of all the volunteer time expended so far: Bill Capp, Mark Imgrund, John Kozak, and Frank Ludwin, with Bill leading the way at 420 hours in 2004.

Numerous contributions by other individuals, municipalities, and companies, including the donation of pavement millings from Bethel Park Borough, and fill material delivery, leveling, and compacting by Beech Construction.

Mark Imgrund