Expanding pathway

Group Plans to Extend Rail-Trail to Point Marion

Morgantown Dominion Post
1 April 2013
By Alex Lang

DONATIONS can be mailed to National Road Heritage Corridor, 65 West Main Street, Suite 103, Uniontown, PA 15401.

The local rail-trail system might soon grow if a new pathway stretch comes to fruition.

The Mon River Trails Conservancy is working with the National Road Heritage Corridor (NRHC) out of Pennsylvania to create a 1.4 mile stretch of the Sheepskin Trail through Point Marion. The new stretch will meet the Mon River Trail network at the state line. That will lead to a connection from the Mon River Trails to the Great Allegheny Passage.

The organizations need to raise about $120,000 more for the stretch, said Donna Holdorf, the NRHC Executive Director. In total, they are looking at roughly $250,000 in costs. The hope is for construction to be finished early in 2015.

Ella Belling, of the Mon Rivers Trails Conservancy, said they would like to raise the money by early April. They hope to have the funds so they can apply for a matching grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

The new stretch will provide more exercise space and trail options for local residents, Belling said.

“It will spotlight the Mon trail system,” she said.

The stretch will also have an economic benefit for Point Marion, Holdorf said. It will become an option for people who want to be close to Morgantown, but still live a bit further away from the area’s core.

With the connection, people can live up in the Point Marion area and only have a 9-mile bike ride to Morgantown.