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Rail-trail extension opens

Cambria County officials celebrate addition of 8 miles to Ghost Town Trail

NANTY GLO — Occasional rain drops and a dark sky couldn’t dampen the mood Friday morning at a new trailhead in Nanty Glo, where local leaders repeatedly expressed excitement about an extension to the Ghost Town Trail.

“This is a great day for Cambria County and our region,” Cambria County President Commissioner Tom Chernisky said.

The Ghost Town Trail is a 36-mile trail built atop an old railway that stretches from Cambria to Indiana County, and Friday’s groundbreaking was to

celebrate an 8-mile extension.

The extension is to follow a C&I Railroad corridor from the end of the existing trail’s Rexis Branch to North Street in Blacklick Township.

The extension is being paid for with a PennDOT grant, as well as funding assistance from a number of community organizations, said Leanna Bird, programs and communications coordinator with Cambria County Con­servation & Recreation Authority.

“It’s a popular destination,” she said, predicting that extension will only improve attendance.

Construction of the extension began in November, but the groundbreaking was postponed until Friday due to inclement weather, developers announced in a news release, which said the extension likely will be finished by fall.

A completed trail has been the goal since the mid-1990s when community leaders began advocating for its creation.

Laurie Lafontaine, vice president of the C&I Trail Council, was among those involved in the trail’s early years, which she called a “monumental battle”

to make the trail a reality.

She exclaimed with joy at the thought of an 8-mile extension.

“This is going to be a world-class facility,” she said.

Among the many people credited with the trail’s creation Friday, one name remained a constant: Tom Strittmatter.

Strittmatter was a 20-plus year Cambria County Conservation & Recreation Authority board member and trail advocate, who died before the extension could be finished.

In his memory, the extension was named “Stritts Way.” His son, Jeff Strittmatter, spoke on Friday.

“It’s an honor to be here today and have his memory preserved,” Strittmatter said of his father. “I’d just like to express our gratitude.”

The extension includes the reconstruction of two former railroad bridges. Ray Winters & Sons is the project contractor, according to a news release.

Once this portion is complete, project leaders will begin a search for funding to pay for another extension — about 7.5 miles that will loop back into the developed Ghost Town Trail in Cambria Township, Bird said.

When completed, it will be the first continuous loop rail-trail in the U.S., according to the Rails to Trails Conservancy, the news release said.

“It’s been a long, long road to get this project off the ground,” said Cliff Kitner, Cambria County Conservation & Recreation Authority’s executive director.

Mirror Staff Writer Sean Sauro is at 946-7535.

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