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.