Group to Detail Plans for Recreation Trail
Aspinwall Hearld
24 November 2011
By Mary Ann Thomas
The Friends of the Riverfront group will release its final plan
for a 27-mile recreation trail from Pittsburgh to Freeport along
the Allegheny River at the end of the month.
Officials from Allegheny County and the Pennsylvania Environmental
Council will join representatives of the Pittsburgh nonprofit
during the Nov. 30 meeting to discuss the plans and specific
sections of the trail.
"This will be a good meeting to attend to understand how the trail
will move forward," said Tom Baxter, executive director of Friends
of the Riverfront. "We will likely discuss how current projects,
like our recent purchase of the Aspinwall Marina, will fit in."
The group worked with Aspinwall-area residents who raised $2.3
million to buy the privately owned marina in October to turn the
8-acre site into a public waterfront park.
The site is just one piece of the puzzle to secure what will be a
series of rights-of-way for the trail.
It will extend the Three River Heritage trail that traverses 22
miles of shoreline along the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio
rivers.
It also would serve as another link in the proposed
Erie-to-Pittsburgh trail.
The proposed trail winds along or near the river and through 17
municipalities that have approved the route of their section of
trail, according to Baxter.
"We're surprised that the 17 communities came together and are
backing a single vision," Baxter said.
The proposed trail route travels through 16 miles of railroad
property, two miles of private land, three miles of existing
trails and six miles of public rights-of-way, according to Baxter.
Last month, the state Department of Conservation and Natural
Resources approved the proposed trail plan.
Securing passage for the trail will not be easy, especially
gaining access to railroad property between Millvale and
Sharpsburg and threading the trail through built-out river towns,
trail proponents have said.
Developing the trail will be an ongoing process, according to
Baxter, much like the Great Allegheny Passage.
The nearly completed biking and hiking trail extends 150 miles to
Cumberland, Md., where it will meet with the C&O Canal Towpath
to create a 335-mile route between Point State Park in Pittsburgh
and Washington.
"The Allegheny Passage took 30 years," Baxter said, "This will
likely not be as long but will be as formidable a challenge.
Mary Ann Thomas can be reached at mthomas@tribweb.com or
412-782-2121 x1510.