Sign up for one of our email newsletters.
Updated 11 hours ago
Being in the spotlight this year isn't such a bad thing for Ned Williams.
As president of the Montour Trail Council, he's hoping the nearly 30-year-old rails-to-trails project's accolade as the state's 2017 Trail of the Year will bring “more limelight” for the path that spans from Moon to near Library and ultimately will extend to Clairton. The state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources last month announced the top honor for the trail.
“We're going to take advantage of the natural publicity this will bring, and we hope it will tell our story more effectively and bring in more visitors,” council president Ned Williams said.
When the trail is finished it will span 63 miles through the entire system, which includes extensions. Much of the system is contiguous and usable except for some small gaps near South Park and Jefferson Hills. A Coraopolis extension to Montour Street and the Neville Island Bridge also is planned. The trail connects to the Greater Allegheny Passage.
Some 400,000 people are estimated to annually use the trail, which connects to the Pittsburgh International Airport in Findlay, and remains one of only a few trails near a large city connecting to an international airport.
“Trail groups realize newfound promises with their trails and often discover, or rediscover just what makes it so special,” said DCNR Press Secretary Terry Brady of what the honor can bring to a trail. “With it comes new interest and partnership surrounding the honored trail.”
Williams, a Washington County resident, started using the Cecil and Peters portions of the trail for bicycling in the late 1990s.
“At that time, the Montour was just a bunch of disconnected pieces with long, unfilled gaps,” he said. “I sort of got involved because I wanted to tie it all together. Over the last 15 years or so, we've completed many of the unfilled sections.”
Most recently, a portion of the “B-line” was filled in from Coraopolis to Library. In the near future, the Montour Trail will be filled in from other sections, as well as in Jefferson Hills to fully connect the trail to Clairton, which makes a connection to the Great Allegheny Passage.
“There are many volunteers over the years who have contributed and built it into a great service for our local residents and a lot of through travelers who are coming from the west to reach Washington D.C. and other points on the east coast,” Williams said. “Overall, we are thrilled and deeply honored to be named trail of the year.”
Matthew Peaslee is a Tribune-Review contributing writer.
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
