With the anniversary this week, it seems like an opportune time to talk about the September 11th National Memorial Trail, the trail - or network of trails that connect the three 9/11 crash sites. Naturally, it passes through the DC area on the way to the Pentagon, going through Virginia, Maryland and DC. Last week they announced that they'd chosen their first ever Executive Director.
This week, Thomas “Tom” Baxter IV, one of the developers of the Three Rivers Heritage Trail, which traces the banks of Pittsburgh's rivers, was named executive director of the September 11th National Memorial Trail.
Technically, the trail exists as a patchwork of previously developed trail segments and secondary, less-traveled roads in seven states — West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, New York, Maryland and Virginia — and the District of Columbia.
It's not all existing trail and so some new trails will be built, but not in the DC area.
A ...priority is a trail connecting the Great Allegheny Passage (a 150-mile long rail-to-trail) in Garrett, Somerset County, to the Flight 93 Memorial, which is expected in the next two years.
In Pennsylvania, currently about 60 percent of the September 11 trail route uses the roadway and 40 percent are pathways.
The goal is to develop more trails and use less road.
More than 500 miles of the September 11th National Memorial Trail will wind through the state, making it the state's longest recreational trail when complete, according to Kent Taylor, a DCNR natural resource program specialist
Baxter spent 14 years with the Friends of the Riverfront, the nonprofit that developed the Three Rivers Heritage Trail. It attracts more than 800,000 visitors a year and has an $8 million economic impact with purchases of food, bicycles, clothing and other products, according to trail-user surveys.
“We took a localized trail and made it the center spoke in a regional mega trail, including the Great Allegheny Passage,” he said.A
And then on Monday, Shanksville cut the ribbon on a new 21-mile segment of trail, Randolph, NJ unveiled the first trail blaze for the system, and Bucks County issued a proclamation in favor of the trail.
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