Great Allegheny Passage's finishing touch on horizon
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Allegheny County has reached agreements clearing the way for the last piece of a trail network stretching from Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C.
The agreements with Sandcastle Waterpark and CSX Railroad will allow construction of a 0.85-mile segment through the park to finish the 150-mile Great Allegheny Passage, which connects at Cumberland, Md., with the C&O Towpath to Washington.
"We did it," County Executive Dan Onorato said. "It's going to be great for the whole region to have this."
"Amazing. Fabulous. Fantastic," said Linda McKenna Boxx, president of the Allegheny Trail Alliance, one of the trail developers.
Mr. Onorato is scheduled to join water-park and railroad officials and trail enthusiasts for a ceremony at Sandcastle Tuesday, marking the end of years of difficult negotiations.
He said the county expects to meet the goal he announced two years ago of having the entire trail completed by "11-11-11" -- Nov. 11, 2011.
Sandcastle and county officials had said in July they were within days of announcing a deal. When no word of an agreement came, project supporters grew anxious.
As it turns out, the deal with Sandcastle -- an easement allowing the trail on park property -- was wrapped up in July. But the county also needed an easement from the railroad, whose line runs along the edge of the park, and Mr. Onorato said he didn't want to make an announcement until everything was in place.
The trail section starts near the Costco store in the Waterfront complex in West Homestead. It will go between Sandcastle Drive and the railroad tracks that run parallel to it.
It will continue along the tracks through the Sandcastle parking lot, under a railroad bridge and the Glenwood Bridge, and connect with the already completed trail segment to the South Side.
It will be 8 feet wide except for a narrower stretch under the railroad bridge, and a fence will separate it from the tracks, said Darla Cravotta, the county's special projects coordinator.
First Published October 17, 2010 12:00 am
