The Great Allegheny Passage, a bike/recreation trail from McKeesport
to Washington D.C. is now complete.
We finally made the connection!” says Linda McKenna Boxx, president of the board
of the Allegheny Trail Alliance. “We had
120 miles completed but now that we’re connected
to Cumberland, MD
which is the terminus of the C&O towpath, we’re complete from McKeesport to Georgetown." Total miles? 316 with more to come.
The next step is a nine-mile stretch between McKeesport
and the Pittsburgh
city limits.“We were able to use abandoned rail corridor up to this point,” says Boxx.
“Now we have to negotiate property owner by property owner and make sure it
interfaces properly so it’s a real challenge." U.S. Steel, Kennywood,
and RIDC in both McKeesport
and Duquesne are some of the owners in that stretch. The trail has already been built through the Waterfront in Homestead.
“There’s a certain momentum and
pressure to get this transferred,” says Boxx who is optimistic about a 2008
completion, in time for Pittsburgh’s
250th anniversary. And when it is? “I think people will be surprised
what an international tourism destination this will become. We have half a
million visitors already.” With the newly completed section, she adds, “The floodgates
are opened up now; people were waiting for this." --TC
Source: Linda McKenna Boxx, Allegheny Trail Alliance
Image courtesy of the Allegheny Trail Alliance