Pittsburgh Homestead
McKeesport West Newton
Ohiopyle Confluence Frostburg
WEST VIRGINIA VIRGINIA Washington
of $124.58. This has increased by $26 since the 2008 trail user survey. The average day user spends roughly $18. A popular feature is the Big Savage
Tunnel, the longest of three major tun- nels along the route. The 3,294-foot tun- nel was built in 1911-12 through Big Savage Mountain near the PA-MD bor- der. Last used by the railroad in 1975, the flooded and damaged tunnel was the major obstacle to getting over the mountain between Frostburg and Meyersdale. To have the tunnel drained, repaired, stabilized, and devel- oped for trail use cost nearly $13 mil- lion. It was officially reopened in 2008. The GAP can trace its beginning to 1978, when the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy purchased the first section of right-of-way from the Western Maryland Railway. In 1986 the first of many rail to trail conversion projects along the route opened 9.5 miles of trail in Ohiopyle State Park.
In June 2013, thirty-five years after
construction first began, the final GAP section was completed from West Homestead to Pittsburgh at an overall cost of $80 million.
For more information contact the Allegheny Trail Alliance at P.O. Box 501, Latrobe, PA 15650 or email admin@ata-
trail.org. Visit the ATA website at www.
GAPtrail.org.
The Buena Vista trailhead just outside Pittsburgh; photo by Don Andberg 37
ConnellsvilleRockwood Meyersdale
Cumberland
PENNSYLVANIA MARYLAND
GREAT ALLEGHENY PASSAGE C&O CANAL TOWPATH
The rebuilt West Newton, PA station serves as a visitors center for trail users; photo by Don Andberg
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