Study looks to connect local rail-trails
WEIRTON — What would the best route be to expand a recreational bicycle trail through the city of Weirton, connecting existing systems and attracting visitors from across the country?
Recration officials, bicycle enthusiasts, planners and more gathered at the Millsop Community Center Thursday to collect comments for just such an idea, hoping to incorporate local feedback into a plan which would link riding trails between Pittsburgh and Cleveland.
The Northern West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Center and the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy recently launched a connectivity and feasibility study for trail development in the Northern Panhandle, connecting local trails as well as those in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Eric Oberg, of the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, explained a similar study already has been completed linking Pittsburgh to Parkersburg, helping to show the assets along the existing trailways, as well as gaps between the systems and what would be needed to complete the links.
“It’s a very details roadmap,” Oberg said.
Locally, there are several existing trails, including the Panhandle Trail, which begins in Weirton and leads into Pennsylvania; the Yankee Trail and the Brooke Pioneer Trail in Wellsburg and the Wheeling Heritage Trail.
Currently, a gap exists in the trail networks between Weirton and Wellsburg.
“It’s one of the trickiest spots for proposing a trail,” Anna Withrow, of the Brownfields Assistance Center, explained. “We just want to look at where would be a reasonable place to put the trail.”
During Thursday’s meeting, attendees were broken into discussion groups, where many looked at possible routes along U.S. 22 or through Weirton — using Cove Road, Main Street and Freedom Way — before heading south through Follansbee and Wellsburg.
The study is funded by the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation and the George Gund Foundation. Organizers expect to have the study completed by summer 2019.
Locally, the project is supported by the Brooke Pioneer Trail Association, the Follansbee Trail Committee, the Weirton Friends of the Trail, Ohio Valley Trail Partners and the Ohio Valley Trail Association.
An unrelated project was discussed during meetings Wednesday with the Brooke-Hancock-Jefferson Metropolitan Planning Commission, which is seeking input for a local path to become part of the cross-country road route known as U.S. Bike Route 50.
That route goes from Washington, D.C. to California.
(Howell can be contacted at chowell@weirtondailytimes.com, and followed via Twitter @CHowellWDT)
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