(top) Tony Tye, Post-Gazette (below) Robin Rombach, Post-Gazette The remnants of Hurricane Ivan left sections of the Montour Trail looking like a moonscape (above). But last weekend Joe and Sara Stout of Moon had no difficulty enjoying a walk with their 17-month-old son Bailey along a repaired portion of the Montour Trail (below). Click photo for larger image.

It has been eight months since almost 6 inches of rain generated by Hurricane Ivan caused Montour Run to overflow its banks and flood the Montour Trail up to 5 feet in some sections. The swift-moving water scoured the trail so much that about 9 miles had to be closed for repairs.

Within a month, the fast-acting Montour Trail Council was able to repair and reopen more than 4 miles of the trail. Repairs continued until Thanksgiving, took a break for the winter and resumed when warmer temperatures returned.

Local municipalities also pitched in. Moon rebuilt Montour Road less than a week after the surging stream shredded it. The Findlay Road Department recently completed the restoration of the trail in its community with a coating of crushed limestone.

Using material purchased by the Montour Trail Council, department manager John O'Neil and his crew topped the trail from the Parkway West overpass at Mile 5.1 to the Findlay Activity Center at Mile 8.5. The road department earlier had restored the base of the trail with asphalt millings donated by Allegheny County.

Dennis Pfeiffer, president of the Montour Trail Council, said township supervisors Tom Gallant, Janet Craig and Raymond Chappell were instrumental in getting the job done.

Pfeiffer said the council is focusing on the reconstruction of the trail from Mile 0.0 to 5.1 "As funding becomes available, we are hoping that Moon and Robinson will be able to assist with the restoration in that section," he said.

The most severely flood-damaged section is a mile segment between Old Beaver Grade Road (Mile 3.1) and Park Manor Drive (Mile 4.1). "It is impassable and remains closed to all trail traffic," Pfeiffer said.

A $50,000 grant awarded April 11 by the Allegheny County Regional Asset District enabled the trail council to give its contractor the go-ahead to continue sub-base repairs in the most severely damaged section of the trail in Robinson.

Pfeiffer said sub-base repairs are expensive. He cited an estimate of more than $41,000 just to complete the sub-base repair and stream bank restoration near Old Beaver Grade Road.

He said the council is grateful for the "generous monetary and in-kind contributions" it has received. Monetary donations for flood repair can still be sent to the Montour Trail Council at 304 Hickman St., Bridgeville, PA, 15017.

Pfeiffer said the Muse-Bishop Road near state Route 50 in Cecil will be closed for about six months so a concrete arch tunnel can be replaced. Both the road and the Montour Trail, which sits 40 feet above the tunnel, will be closed during the construction. A 190-foot steel girder bridge will replace the tunnel.

Construction also is in progress on the 0.6-mile connector to the Panhandle Trail that passes under the McDonald Trestle west of McDonald.

With the exception of the remediation work between Mile 3.1 and 4.1 and the bridges over Route 50, Morganza Road and Georgetown Road in Cecil, the trail is complete from Mile 0 to Mile 30. The bridges are easily bypassed by making short on-road rides, but be careful.

More than half of the remaining miles of main line between Cecil and Mile 47 in Clairton are open, said Mark Imgrund, vice president of the council. That includes the soon-to-be-posted share-the-road section from Gil Hall Road to Large and the 1.4-mile segment from the Arrowhead Trail east to the Allegheny County line in Peters.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the latter section is scheduled for June 25, Imgrund said. Road detours around the three major breaks between completed sections of the trail from Cecil to Clairton can be found at www.montourtrail.org/maps/bypass.html.

When completed, the 55-mile Montour Trail will run from Coraopolis to Clairton and then join the Great Allegheny Passage at McKeesport. There are some rough spots on the repaired sections of the trail, but they are passable.

For more information on the Montour Trail and a look at the damage done by the rains from Ivan, go to www.montourtrail.org., e-mail info@montourtrail.org or call 412-257-3011.