Washington County is lacking trails and greenways
The opioid epidemic continues to grow and expand with our people looking for solutions. We have all heard the statistics and how bad our region has gotten, but we need to focus on the systemic issues and solutions therein.
One key component to drug prevention and drug recovery is quality of life. A simple internet search will provide you with countless studies reinforcing this correlation. Quality of life is a wide range of aspects, but I wish to highlight the importance of trails and greenways.
According to the National Trails Training Partnership, “There are many benefits of trails and greenways that planners, funders, and the public need to know about: they make our communities more livable; improve the economy through tourism and civic improvement; preserve and restore open space; and provide opportunities for physical activity to improve fitness and mental health.”
Washington County lacks trails, we are the only county in southwestern Pennsylvania without a single water trail. Other than the Panhandle and Montour Trails which serve a very small portion of the northern sector of the county, the majority of the County is missing this moral boost. Whether we build small trails in our parks, establish a regional rails to trails, or finally get a water trail, any investment or promotion of greenways and trails is an improvement of our quality of life. At this point, anything we can do to better our communities and provide a better quality of life for all is better than keeping the status quo.
If we all care about the quality of our communities, county and fighting the opioid epidemic, trails and greenways are a piece of the puzzle we all can’t ignore, it is simply scientific fact.
Jason White
Marianna