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Work begins on Yough Trail center
Wednesday, July 11, 2001 By Jonathan Barnes
The Youghiogheny River Trail, a destination for bikers and walkers for years, soon will have a spot dedicated to educating students on the environment.
Workers on Monday broke ground on a $300,000 visitor's center in West Newton that will bring a higher profile to the trail. The center will be a reproduction of the Pittsburgh & Erie Railroad Station, a brick building built in 1910 and demolished about 15 years ago.
The new building will house offices of the Regional Trail Corp., which runs the trail, as well as a shop, restrooms and a maintenance room for the trail.
Workers began laying the foundation block Monday. Adjacent to the center is a renovated 1926 railroad car that will serve as an environmental educational center. The $50,000 project is being funded by state and federal grants and the donations of local individuals and businesses.
"The Youghiogheny River at one time was very polluted," said Bob McKinley, manager of the Regional Trail Corp.
"We hope to teach the kids about water quality. A major corporation has offered to donate computers that will be used to build databases on water quality."
Unique geological formations along the trail such as a tufa, a growing rock formed by water-borne deposits of calcium carbonate, will add to the educational experience, McKinley said.
A 5.1-mile section of the eight-year-old trail from Greenock to Buena Vista in Elizabeth Township is being resurfaced. The work should be completed in two weeks. The resurfacing includes a soil stabilizer that should keep down some of the trail dust.
"With 400,000 visitors per year, they wore [the section of the trail] out," McKinley said. A ribbon-cutting for the final mile of the trail will be held Aug. 4 in Liberty at the Durabond plant.
The completion of the final leg of the Youghiogheny River Trail will tie together 100 miles.
Bikers and walkers will be able to travel 43 miles from McKeesport to Connellsville and then take the Youghiogheny River Trail South for 27 miles to Confluence. From Confluence, visitors can travel the 30 miles of the Allegheny Highlands Trail to Meyersdale.
Jonathan Barnes is a free-lance writer.
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