Friends of the Cheat Hits the (Kingwood-Tunnelton) Trail
Morgantown Dominion Post
16 January 2013
KINGWOOD — Friends of the Cheat received a grant through the West
Virginia Division of Highways for $80,000 to purchase the
Kingwood-Tunnelton rail-trail.
Amanda Pitzer, executive director of Friends of the Cheat, said
the grant was for a recreational trail and was administered
through the Federal Highways Administration. Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin
presented the grant Monday, in Charleston.
Pitzer said the trail will have to be appraised, and a price
negotiated with Kern Valley Railroad. The railbed runs from
Kingwood to Tunnelton.
The trail has been in the works for several years, Pitzer said.
One sticking point has been ownership — the nonprofit cannot own
the trail. Pitzer said Preston County Parks and Recreation
Commission will be the trail’s owner.
Among other grants distributed Monday was one for $24,000 to the
Town of Terra Alta to complete work on its walking trail,
according to Mayor Charlie Feather.
The above are part of grant packages that came out of Charleston
totaling more than $7 million for transportation and recreational
improvement projects across the state.
Monies earmarked to Monongalia County included $115,000 to correct
a slippage along the Deckers Creek Rail Trail, plus $350,000 and
$250,000, respectively, for street and sidewalk improvement
projects in Morgantown and Westover.