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The Great Allegheny Passage has been designated a National Recreational Trail and part of the National Trail System.
"This designation gives us a tremendous amount of credibility and provides a major boost to our efforts to complete the entire long distance trail system between Cumberland and Pittsburgh," said Linda McKenna Boxx, President of the Allegheny Trail Alliance, a coalition of seven trail organizations building the Passage.
"This designation really says we're among the premier trails in the Nation," Boxx added.
One hundred continuous miles of the Great Allegheny Passage will be finished late this summer, with the entire system expected to be completed about 2003. The system is a 150-mile, non-motorized, nearly level trail system linking Cumberland, MD, and the Forks of the Ohio at Pittsburgh, PA, with a 52-mile branch to the Pittsburgh International Airport. At Cumberland, the C&O Canal Towpath expands the off-road trail linkage to Washington, DC.
"The Allegheny Trail Alliance and its member groups deserve our thanks for developing such a fantastic asset for our region," said U.S. Rep. John Murtha, who has been a strong advocate for the system. "This trail not only provides excellent recreational opportunities in communities along the trail, but also is attracting tourist dollars into our economy and is being recognized as the type of asset that helps to attract new industry here. It's certainly appropriate that this asset is now part of the National Park Service's National Recreation Trails Program."
The national designation for the Passage and 14 other trails was announced by U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton, who said the designation recognizes trails for their exceptional conservation efforts.
For more information, please visit the Allegheny Trail Alliance website at www.atatrail.org.
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| This page is part of the Allegheny Trail Alliance's site in support of the Great Allegheny Passage, a motor-free recreational rail trail connecting Pittsburgh PA and Cumberland MD. Copyright © 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001by Allegheny Trail Alliance, Bill Metzger, Mary Shaw, and Roy Weil. Amenity information courtesy of FreeWheeling Easy. We encourage you to create links to this site and to print copies of the maps for your personal use. We prohibit other uses of this site, especially if they generate spam or other mass communications -- see our Privacy Policy.. This page was last modified on 07/10/01. Send email to ATA or contact the ATA or member trails. | ||||||
