Antis Township plans to apply for a PennDOT grant of between $350,000 and $375,000 to pay for paving the middle portion of the township’s partially constructed First Frontier Valley trail — and to design a pedestrian crossing to get the trail over Lower Riggles Gap Road to connect with a proposed third and final portion that would end in Juniata.

A $100,000 payment to the township by the company that is almost finished removing an enormous bony pile in the middle portion for the coal it can use for co-generation power will serve as the match for the Multi-Modal Transportation Grant, according to township Manager Doug Brown, speaking at a supervisors meeting Thursday.

Robindale Energy of Latrobe, which has been working with subcontractor Glenn O. Hawbaker, should finish constructing the 1.5-mile middle portion of the trail that will run along an old coal hauling road between Becker and Lower Riggles Gap roads by June, according to road foreman Randy Showalter.

A $1.3 million Abandoned Mine Lands grant administered by the state Department of Environmental Protection is paying for the bony pile removal.

There is no funding yet for the final portion of the trail, although the township is looking for grant opportunities, Brown said.

Because the final portion will go on an existing railroad bed for most of the 1.5 miles between Lower Riggles Gap Road and North 20th Street in Juniata — in Logan Township — Antis may be able to do much of the work with its own crew, Brown said.

A $1.5 million PennDOT grant covered most of the cost of the first portion of the trail, which begins under the Route 865 overpass in Bellwood, proceeds along an alley between the back of the library and the mainline tracks, then crosses the tracks on a pre-existing pedestrian bridge, then spans Bells Gap Run on a new bridge, before proceeding to Becker Road for a total distance of 0.88 mile.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.