Vicites working to extend Mon River Trail through Fayette County
The Mon River Trail, the last leg of the West Virginia trail system recently funded and scheduled for completion by the end of this year, will abruptly end just before reaching Point Marion Borough at the Pennsylvania state line and Fayette County plans to eventually continue the trail from there. The Monongahela River Trails Conservancy (MRTC) in West Virginia announced that three grants were awarded to complete the last mile of the 51-mile Mon River Trail from Van Voorhis, W.Va., to the Pennsylvania state line.
Fayette County Commissioner Vince Vicites has been working on the effort to extend the Rails to Trails in Fayette County.
Since the commissioner and other interested people were having trouble contacting CSX Corporation, the owner of the rails, and the nearest company contact in Baltimore moved location, Vicites, while in Jacksonville, Fla., called the company’s office and continued price negotiations with the company for the rails located on county land.
According to the corporation’s Web site, CSX Transportation operates the largest rail network in the eastern U.S. It is the parent company of a number of subsidiaries that provide freight transportation services across the United States.
Vicites said the county will obtain two certified appraisals of the railroad property, form a price based on those appraisals and call CSX with the price.
Vicites said the project is a very important recreational and economical project for the county.
Along the path of trails, small businesses seem to spring up, which is evidenced through the Youghiogheny Trail that snakes down the mountain from Ohiopyle to Connellsville and on to Dawson.
Vicites is hoping that the expansion of the trail into Point Marion will also open up ties to West Virginia concerning the Mon-Fayette Expressway expansion project.
“This is a high priority,” said Vicites. “It will open up the state to sharing resources.”
State Rep. H. William DeWeese (D-Waynesburg) and Vicites recently obtained $15,000 grant for the Sheepskin Trail scheduled to run from Point Marion to Connellsville, with a spur to Shoaf, and an equal amount for the Browns Run Trail scheduled to run through German Township.
“I commend (Bill DeWeese) for it,” Vicites said. “The more money we bring into Fayette County for these projects, the more we move forward everyday.”
Jo Lofstead, legislative assistant to DeWeese, said the state representative is really supporting the trails.
“(The trails) make for an improved quality of life and are a proven economic development engine,” Lofstead said.
Ella Belling, executive director of the MRTC, has seen the benefits of the West Virginia trail system. People commute to work by way of the trails.
“We’re seeing a lot of healthy lifestyles,” Belling said.
The trails are a selling point for realtors and the state’s tourism industry as well as a safe recreational outlet for people visiting the area, Belling said.
“It’s really a selling point for tourism,” she said.
The economic boost is also visible. Restaurants, bike shops and more have sprung up around the trails, a scene similar to Ohiopyle. Belling said the Mon River Trail was modeled from the Youghiogheny Trail in Fayette County.
“I’ve seen a lot of festivals pop up,” Belling said.
In Morgantown, an abandoned industrial warehouse section was transformed into a hotel-city park-conference center because of the addition of the Rail to Trails, Belling said.
Well over 200 trail systems snake through the hills, towns, woods and waterways in West Virginia.
“It was a many partnership effort to make it happen,” Belling said.
She added, “Anything we can do to help make these connections (between Pennsylvania and West Virgnia) happen, we definitely will be doing.”
For more information on the Mon River Trail and festivals held along the trail, visit www.montrails.org
.