First 3 national parks, 9/11 National Memorial Trail alliance start connections

SHANKSVILLE ― An alliance between the National Park Service and the 9/11 National Memorial Trail is helping to bring this trail, intended to connect the three sites of a terrorist attack on the United States in 2001, one step closer to being completed.

The 9/11 National Memorial Trail is a 1,500-mile system of trails and roads that would link the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum in New York City, the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, and Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville. A completed trail at Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site, Flight 93 National Memorial and the Johnstown Flood National Memorial will connect these first three national parks to the 9/11 trail that's being developed.

"This is significant because of federal legislation that was passed in October 2021 by unanimous vote of the House and Senate that started a relationship of the 9/11 Trail in partnership with the National Park Service," said Jeff McCauley, Sept. 11 National Memorial Trail Alliance president.

On Oct. 13, 2021, President Joe Biden signed the legislation designating the 9/11 National Memorial Trail.

"The 9/11 Trail route goes through numerous other national parks in its 1,500 miles that span six states and the District of Columbia," McCauley said.

The 9/11 trail is a tribute to the 2,977 individuals who died on Sept. 11, 2001. Of those individuals, 441 were police officers, firefighters and emergency medical personnel who perished trying to help others, said Stephen Clark, superintendent of National Parks of Western Pennsylvania, at a press conference held last week at the Flight 93 National Memorial.

The trail is the dream of David Brickley, founder and president emeritus of the Sept. 11 National Memorial Trail Alliance. He said at the press conference that he wanted to find a way to merge trails and greenways with the horrific events of Sept. 11, 2001. A board and an alliance were formed. Brickley said this trail is an example of a partnership working together.

McCauley, who is responsible for executing the strategic plan for the development of the 9/11 National Memorial Trail, works with public and private organizations to ensure the trail construction moves forward. He said at the press conference that the trail of remembrance honors those who gave their all for freedom on Sept. 11, 2001, but it can also be a catalyst for promoting tourism, economic development, healthy bodies and minds, and cultural, historical and educational opportunities for generations to come.

"Though the 9/11 Trail route is usable now in western Pennsylvania between the parks, work continues to make it an off-road trail instead of utilizing the local roads," McCauley said. "The alliance continues to work to develop a route of off-road and segregated trails as much as possible for the safest route possible. Also, segregated trails tend to have higher usership. We want to make that as much of a reality as possible."

The connecting trails

Doug Bosley, chief of interpretation for the Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site and Johnstown Flood National Memorial, was instrumental in completing the Path of the Flood Trail, which is now part of the 9/11 National Memorial Trail. The historic Path of the Flood Trail takes users from the breached South Fork Dam, where the 1889 Johnstown Flood began, to the Stone Bridge in Johnstown, where the floodwaters broke and 2,209 people perished. The trail has trail-side markers that tell the story of the flood and help users visualize the scene within the Little Conemaugh River valley.

The Allegheny Portage Railroad park features the inclined plane railway built in the 1830s to carry canal boats from one side to the other. It was the first railroad over the Allegheny Mountains and was used to reduce travel across Pennsylvania, Bosley said at the press conference. The Staple Bend Tunnel Trail was finished in 2001 and includes the first railroad tunnel in the U.S. The bicycle section of Incline 6 to 10 Trail was finished 15 years ago. Summit Level Trail is the final piece of the 9/11 trail at the railroad site park.

Bosley said he is looking forward to sharing the stories with 9/11 trail users who will now have access to the parks.

The Flight 93 National Memorial at 6424 Lincoln Highway, Stoystown, was built to commemorate the crash of United Airlines Flight 93, which was one of four aircraft hijacked during the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.

Garrett to Berlin trail

Somerset County Commissioner Brian Fochtman said at the press conference that since a connecting trail was first conceived in 2010, the county matched a $50,000 DCNR grant for a feasibility study in 2012. In 2014, Berlin supported using an abandoned railroad connection from the Great Allegheny Passage trailhead in Garrett to Berlin. CSX donated 130 acres of the abandoned railroad corridor in 2015. In 2017, an additional $530,000 in funding was acquired for the Garrett to Flight 93 National Memorial connection.

In 2020, ground was broken for a section connecting the 9/11 trail and the GAP. The new segment begins the trail’s intended 20-mile connection from the Great Allegheny Passage to the Flight 93 National Memorial. The new 1.5-mile portion of the trail splits off from the Great Allegheny Passage at the Garrett trailhead, traverses the town, and uses the former CSX railroad corridor. The cost of this segment is $864,000, which includes design, engineering, permits, and construction.

Fochtman said the county continues to pursue grants to complete the trail between Garrett and Berlin.

Madolin Edwards has been a journalist at the Daily American for 37 years, covering school boards, borough councils, sports and new stories. She was the Home and Family editor for 20 years, and was the primary editor and reporter for a variety of special projects, features and tabs. Contact the Daily American reporters at news@dailyamerican.com.