Repairs put Ghost Town Trail on right path
Part of trail resurfaced to combat erosion from runoff
A wax-coated aggregate was recently installed on the Ghost Town Trail under the West High Street bridge to end a continual erosion problem. Mirror photo by Matt Churella
The wax-coated aggregate surface of the Ghost Town Trail under the West High Street bridge has proven to have held up during a recent rainstorm, which deposited a lot of stone on the trail but didn’t wash away the new material. Mirror photo by Matt Churella
A wax-coated aggregate was recently installed on the Ghost Town Trail under the West High Street bridge to end a continual erosion problem. Mirror photo by Matt Churella
The wax-coated aggregate surface of the Ghost Town Trail under the West High Street bridge has proven to have held up during a recent rainstorm, which deposited a lot of stone on the trail but didn’t wash away the new material. Mirror photo by Matt Churella
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EBENSBURG -- The Cambria County Conservation and Recreation Authority recently ended a continual "maintenance nightmare" on the Ghost Town Trail by installing a new wax-coated material beneath the West High Street bridge, Executive Director Cliff Kitner said.
Every time it rained, a large amount of runoff water would wash out the trail's top coat in that area, Kitner said, adding the conservation and recreation authority built ditches next to the trail to absorb more water, prior to putting a new surface down.
The new surface is a water resistant wax-coated aggregate from Kafka Granite, a specialty aggregate supplier in Wisconsin, Kitner said.
The surface was installed within a day, with officials able to hire a contractor to lay the material thanks to a grant from the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, Kitner said, noting it held up during a recent rainstorm.
"A lot of the stone came up over the trail, but it didn't wash the material out, which was phenomenal news," Kitner said.
Dan Hannan, the supplier's business development manager, said a big part of why their product is so good is because it's specifically made as a pathway mix and is not a byproduct of something else.
"We actually mine everything," Hannan said. "We crush it, we cut it down to a really specific gradation and then we blend the materials so the materials (are) exactly the same with every load you get."
On top of that, every granule of the aggregate is completely encapsulated in proprietary wax coating, he said.
When the material is being installed and compacted, the wax on each granule binds to the wax on the adjoining granules and eliminates any chance of water infiltrating the material, Hannan said.
"That's why it stops all the erosion and everything that you see with the typical pathway products that are on the market," Hannan said.
The goal of trying the new material is to see whether it stands the test of time, Kitner said. If it works out, officials plan to address other "problem areas," including some parts of the Path of the Flood Trail, he said.
In a statement, Cambria County Commissioner Tom Chernisky commended the conservation and recreation authority for finding innovative ways to improve outdoor recreation while strengthening the local economy.
"Their philosophy is simple: there is no finish line," Chernisky said. "They are always looking for the next opportunity to make
Cambria County an even better place to live, work, invest, volunteer and play."
Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.