The Great Allegheny Passage

If you’re a trail enthusiast, get ready to experience the grandeur of the Appalachians on the ultimate, outdoor trip in 2009. That’s when you’ll likely be able to travel from Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C. on a 334.5-mile system of bike-hike trails. This system consists of the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP), extending 150 miles from Pittsburgh to Cumberland, Maryland, and the C&O Canal Towpath that runs from Cumberland to Washington D.C.

The Great Allegheny Passage is a segment of the evolving Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail that honors the heritage of the Potomac and upper Ohio River basins. Besides biking and cycling, the trail provides opportunities for horseback riding and cross-country skiing.

The nearly completed, last nine miles of the GAP winds from McKeesport to Pittsburgh. Completion of this segment through the Steel Valley is one of three, signature projects named by the Pittsburgh 250 Commission. The other two are the renovation of Point State Park and the Forbes Trail Driving Guide.

According to the Allegheny Trail Alliance, bikers and hikers will move over a packed, crushed limestone surface that’s just right for smooth riding and walking. No major strains here. The trail is nearly level with an average grade of less than 1 percent.

The GAP: A Public-Private Endeavor
The Great Allegheny Passage came about through the work of the Allegheny Trail Alliance (ATA), a coalition of seven trail organizations in southwestern Pennsylvania and western Maryland. ATA received funding from The Colcom Foundation, the Heinz Endowments, the Richard King Mellon Foundation, the Jewish Healthcare Foundation, and the Benedum Foundation plus county and state support to raise more than $6 million to fund construction of this final section. And public-spirited municipal, business, and railroad interests willingly cooperated in aligning the various segments of the last nine-miles into a cohesive trail from McKeesport to Pittsburgh.

Unlike the rest of the Great Allegheny Passage consisting of abandoned rail right of ways, the Steel Valley Section forges almost exclusively through industrial sites and private businesses. Without this public-private effort, the final, nine-mile stretch would have wasted away on the drawing boards.

“To launch construction on the last nine miles, the City of McKeesport and the Regional Industrial Development Corporation of Allegheny County (RIDC) joined hands to make it possible for the trail to pass through McKeesport to Duquesne” said Jack Paulik, Trail Coordinator. “McKeesport granted an easement through its municipality and RIDC granted easements on its properties in McKeesport and Duquesne.”

In McKeesport, the GAP passes through property acquired from the McKeesport Connecting Railroad and from there, connects with the Riverton Bridge formerly owned by the Union Railroad. “The railroad graciously agreed to abandon the bridge so we could convert it to a dedicated bike and hiking trail over the Monongahela River,” said Paulik.

The Riverton Bridge was constructed in 1892 by a predecessor company of American Bridge formed in 1900 by J.P. Morgan. Final design and conversion of the bridge to a biking-hiking trail reached completion in the Fall of 2008. “The Riverton Bridge was over designed to accommodate tremendous weights that rolled on steel-wheeled vehicles. With proper maintenance, the bridge should last another 100 years,” said Bob Luffy, CEO of American Bridge Company.

Using the Riverton Bridge for the bike trail, Luffy pointed out, is fortunate. It would have been impractical to situate the GAP trail further down river across the Duquesne McKeesport Bridge that handles roadway traffic. And constructing a new bridge to accommodate bicycle traffic would have been cost prohibitive. What’s more, the absence of obstructions near the Riverton Bridge means that bikers and hikers will enjoy clear views up and down river as they move across the bridge. They’ll see the industrial facilities that are part of Pittsburgh’s heritage as they travel along the river.

Once across the Riverton Bridge, the Great Allegheny Passage continues through Duquesne and heads south and down river to the Port Perry section, where a number of railroads cross the Monongahela into West Mifflin Borough near Kennywood. The trail then heads further south along the Monongahela River and offers a stunning view of the U.S. Steel Edgar Thomson plant in Braddock. From Braddock, the trail winds along to Whitaker Borough. There, bikers and riders move across the Norfolk Southern Railroad and drop down to the Waterfront development.

The Hot Metal Bridge Link
The trail continues to and around the riverside of the Waterfront on a pre-existing trail constructed earlier when the Waterfront was developed. From there, the trail moves through West Homestead past the Costco store, hopefully through Sandcastle. On the Southside, the trail links to the newly rehabbed Hot Metal Bridge and crosses back over the Monongahela River to the Eliza Furnace Trail that takes bikers and hikers into Downtown Pittsburgh.

The name of the Hot Metal Bridge defines its historical purpose. The bridge was formerly used to transport crucibles of molten iron in ladle cars by rail from the Jones and Laughlin Eliza and Soho blast furnaces on the Oakland side of the Monongalela River to the company’s steel processing plants on Pittsburgh’s South Side. The bridge was closed in 2005 for reconstruction and reopened for pedestrian and bicycle use late in 2007. People crossing the bridge now enjoy a spectacular view of the Pittsburgh skyline.

“Before the November 2007 opening of the Hot Metal Bridge, Pittsburgh ranked ninth on the list of the country’s most walkable cities. Now the city will be connected to Washington, D.C., the Number One most walkable city,” said Linda McKenna Boxx, President of the Allegheny Trail Aliance. “We expect bike commuting and bike-based tourism to grow and to turn our cities and towns into trail towns.”

She added that the trail system between Pittsburgh and our nation’s capital sets the GAP-C&O Towpath in a class by itself. “Many trails in the United States go through long stretches of beautiful scenery, but there’s really no reason to visit the end points of these trails. The GAP enables bikers and hikers to enjoy the wonders of Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C. in addition to the magnificence and history of the trail. The Passage offers everything in one system,” said Boxx.

What’s more, bikers and hikers traveling along the nine-mile, Steel Valley Section of the Great Allegheny Passage will move through the whole story of Pittsburgh, from its coke, coal and steel production to its river transportation and ethnic communities.

History and Scenic Beauty In One Trail System
As trail users travel from Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C., they’ll move along the historic route envisioned by George Washington and the early colonists as a trade route from the Eastern Seaboard of the United States to the Forks of the Ohio, where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers flow together to form the Ohio River, the site of present-day Pittsburgh. “What better way to complete the trail system from Washington, D.C. to Pittsburgh than to conclude it where the French and British empires clashed as they sought to control the area now known as Pittsburgh,” said Boxx.

If you’re not a history buff, think of the GAP-C&O Canal Towpath as a getaway to refresh yourself. Given that there are many short trips you can make, you needn’t do the entire trail from Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C. This is “the longest unpaved bike route east of the Mississippi … The GAP-C&O removes riders so quickly and thoroughly from civilization that modern intrusions can knock you on your backside,” wrote Jim Gorman in describing his biking trip along the Great Allegheny Passage-C&O Towpath in the October 2007 issue of National Geographic Adventure.

Nonetheless, with more than 40 towns along the Great Allegheny Passage, bikers and hikers are always near welcoming towns as they wend their way. Through the new, Trail Town program, trail developers are working with communities near the GAP’s trail system to take advantage of the economic opportunities that come with bikers and hikers entering their communities.

As this publication goes to print, the ATA is attempting to negotiate with the Kennywood Corporation to route the trail through its Sandcastle Waterpark. With the impending sale of Kennywood to Parques Reunidos, a company based in Madrid, Spain, trail organizers are hopeful that the new owners will cooperate.

In any event, there’s no doubt that the Great Allegheny Passage is, and will be, a majestic, environmentally friendly resource for the people and communities of Southwestern Pennsylvania now and in the decades ahead.mg

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