RIDGWAY – The volunteers of Tri-county Rails to Trails are steadily progressing with the development of the new, Five Bridges Trail, according to Dave Leske, trail construction foreman.
Once completed, this rails-to-trails project will run from Brockway to Brookville. The trail will connect to the Clarion/Little Toby Trail, which runs from Ridgway to Brockway, and the Redbank Valley Trails, which runs west from Brookville to join the Armstrong Trail. This will create an 80-mile trail to connect Ridgway with Brockway, Brookville, Summerville and New Bethlehem, said Leske.
The Armstrong Trail, he said, is a part of the Pittsburgh to Erie Trail network, which is currently under development. Once all the trails are completed, the Clarion/Little Toby Trail will be a part of a multi-state network of trails, which passes through Pittsburgh, Cumberland, MD and ultimately Washington, D.C. He said this connection will open the region to rail-trail tourists who make multi-day trips, and this will stimulate the economies of the towns they visit along the trail.
According to him, Tri-county Rails to Trails volunteers have the rights to eight miles of the new trail, which follows to the Pittsburgh and Shawmut Railroad that was built along Mill Creek in the early 1900’s. He said the trail starts just outside of Brockway and ends in Allens Mills. He said the Tri-county Rails to Trails volunteers are currently working to acquire the rights to extend the trail.
Leske said over the past few months, the Rails to Trails volunteers have installed decks on two of the trail’s five bridges; trimmed the trees, which have overgrown the trail; cleared the clogged drainage ditches; removed landslides; and installed new culverts. He said the majority of this work was possible through a donation from Apple Tractor in Brockway.
As a construction equipment dealer, Leske said Apple Tractor donated the use and transportation of an excavating machine, which has allowed the volunteers to complete work that would have otherwise taken weeks. He said in one section of the trail, the railroad blasted a narrow cut through a hillside. In the years since the tracks were removed, He said the hillside eroded and landslides filled in the drainage ditches, forcing rainwater to run into the trail, which caused extensive damage. Leske said with Apple Tractor’s excavator, the volunteers removed the landslides and restored the ditches in a quarter-mile section of the trail in two days.
In the coming weeks, he said volunteer crews will continue working on the trail’s bridges, trimming back more trees, improving drainage and installing additional culverts. He said this fall the group hopes to perform preliminary grading to improve the trail surface, and the crew welcomes new volunteers to help in the construction process.
Tri-county Rails to Trails is a completely volunteer organization incorporated in 1992 to promote the conversion of abandoned railroad rights-of-ways located in Clearfield, Jefferson and ElkCounties into non-motorized, public use trails. The association’s volunteers maintain three trails, which total more than 31 miles.
Leske said while grant funding is occasionally available for the construction of new trails, maintenance and upkeep is completed by volunteers and funded by donations from members, local businesses and other organizations. As a public charity, donations to Tri-county Rails to Trails are tax-deductible. More information is available at www.TricountyRailsToTrails.org.
