Gauging a trail’s
By Dave Hurst, For the Mirror
POSTED: June 12, 2008
Every year seems to be a big year for the Great Allegheny Passage.
In late-2006, the last section was completed and dedicated, creating a rail-trail of 132 miles from McKeesport to Cumberland, Md. Because the GAP connects with the 184-mile C&O Canal Towpath in Cumberland, cyclists and walkers now can travel 316 miles from Washington, D.C., to the outskirts of Pittsburgh on what is described as the longest multi-purpose trail in the nation.
Given its direct connection with the C&O Canal National Historical Park, which draws two million visitors annually, according to the National Park Service, it should be no surprise that a lot of people are riding the Great Allegheny Passage.
The Allegheny Trail Alliance, which has overseen the GAP’s development, estimated that 750,000 people used the trail in 2007. But that’s just a wild guess and doesn’t provide much helpful information. Where did they come from? How far did they ride? Did they spend money along the way? Where?
These all are important questions to answer if our region is to seize the opportunities offered by this outstanding resource. So trail-related organizations are working together to get some answers this year through a pair of surveys.
The Trail Town Program — a business-development effort involving six communities along the Great Allegheny Passage — is analyzing the responses to surveys mailed to more than 400 trail-related businesses. The results should provide the first empirical insights into what kind of economic engine the trail may become for our region.
Memorial Day weekend, the Trail Town Program launched another survey in partnership with the Allegheny Trail Alliance and Laurel Highlands Visitors Bureau. This one seeks to measure economic impact by talking to trail users themselves.
Volunteers are stopping trail users around eight communities along the GAP: West Newton, Connellsville, Ohiopyle, Confluence, Rockwood and Meyersdale in Pennsylvania, and Frostburg and Cumberland in Mary-land.Trail users are being asked how they are using the trail (day-use, through-travel), how they are interacting with trail towns, how they are spending money and how they are packaging their trips (how they got to the trail, where their vehicles are and how they’ll get back to them).
The goal is to reach 2,400 users by the time the effort wraps up in October.
Amy Camp of the Trail Town Program still is looking for volunteers: ‘‘If they want to go out once a week, once a month or once all season, we’ll take them.’’ If interested, contact Amy at acamp@ progressfund.org or by calling (724) 216-9160.
Meanwhile, the Allegheny Trail Alliance is working with Allegheny County to complete the Steel Valley section of the Great Allegheny Passage from McKeesport to Point State Park in conjunction with Pittsburgh’s 250th anniversary this year. And special planning is underway to commemorate that big event in late September and early October.
To keep up with developments on the GAP, go to www.atatrail.org. For more information on the Trail Town Program, visit www.trailtowns.org.
Write to Dave Hurst in care of the Mirror or through www.hurstmediaworks.com.
