Rails to trails eyes for county, valley
Evan Sanders
Jason White, with Marinna Outdoorsmen Association, stands at a section of railroad line that can potentially be turned into a rails-to-trails system in Fallowfield Township, Washington County.
Evan Sanders
Jason White sketches a map showing the connection of towns at a section of railroad line that can potentially be turned into a rails-to-trails system in Fallowfield Township.
Evan Sanders
Jason White discusses access possibilities to a rails-to-trails system in Fallowfield Township.
Evan Sanders
A section of railroad line that can potentially be turned into a rails to trails system in Fallowfield Township, Washington County.
Walking through Van Voorhis, with the Pigeon Creek and the old abandoned rail line bordering opposite sides of a rural road that runs through parts of Carroll and Fallowfield townships, Jason White, president of the Marianna Outdoorsmen Association, sees the possibilities.
For White, it is a page out of “Field of Dreams.” If you build it, White believes, they will come — tourists, recreation seekers, and most importantly jobs with a rails-to-trails development.
It is a message that White avidly repeats everywhere and often, from a town meeting in Donora to Harrisburg, where he has been seeking the support of and matching funding from the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
He also believes PennDOT can have a stake in the project, from widening by three to four feet the roadway which leads to the trails, to utilizing its trails mission to help fund the project.
When Washington County created its 10-year plan a decade ago, it included development of rails to trails through the county.
That never materialized, said White.
If it’s in our (county) plan and the area needs it, it makes sense to do it,” said White. “It’s in our comprehensive plan and greenways plan.”
White believes Washington County has untapped oil and gas drilling fees it could use to help fund construction.
“I really believe in my heart we have an opportunity for kids, an opportunity for adults and an opportunity for travelers and for business to development like never before,” White said, gleaming at the prospect. “And the Mon Valley can use every job it can get.”
As occurred beginning a quarter century ago on the Westmoreland County side of the river valley, the trails would be etched out of the former rail bank. The abandoned line runs from Marianna to Monongahela, White said.
“This creek runs through the Bentworth, Charleroi Area and Ringgold school districts,” said White, standing along the banks of Pigeon Creek.
Marianna Outdoorsmen Association currently operates a fish commission program in the Bentworth School District.
The hard part was completed when the 10-year plan was written, White said.
The next step would be creation of a feasibility study. The association applied for a $100,000 Local Share Account grant to fund that study.
White believes construction of the first section of the trail, a five-mile loop in Marianna, could begin in 2018.
But his goal is also to get the state and county to work together to get multiple sections of the trail built simultaneously.
“We need to work at this from three different directions at one time,” White said.
The cost would be about $170,000, White estimates, about one-sixth of what it would cost to build the same length of two-lane roadway. A contractor would likely sell the old rail line for scrap metal, the lumber from the ties to a retailer.
Although the trail is in a quiet, secluded area, Route 481 and ultimately Interstate 70 are not far away.
“To me, the middle is I-70,” White said. “The sooner you get to I-70, the sooner you get to 50,000 cars a day.”
The trails through the county would include three stretches of roughly 25 miles each — Marianna to Monongahela, Marianna to Canonsburg Lake and along Route 88 from the valley to Fredericktown. And from there, it would cross Ten Mile Creek and tie into the Green River Trail.
Marianna Outdoorsmen Association was formed in 2006 with the simple idea stocking trout. The association then started the Marianna Canoe Race and Anything That Floats, which has become the largest such event in the state planned on by a nonprofit organization.
The trails are the natural progression for an association which seeks to combine recreational and economic opportunities.
“There’s an opportunity here for kids, there’s an opportunity for adults, there’s an opportunity for tourism. We have these beautiful natural resources waiting for us to build these trails.
“We have great opportunity with rail beds here with stream beds here. This region has 365 days a year to offer recreational opportunities.”