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Grant sought for new study |
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Written by Publisher
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Saturday, 11 April 2009 |
Photo by Ted Lutz
A feasibility study is planned for the proposed conversion of the Knox and Kane Railroad right-of-way to a trail system. The McKean County Planning Commission is expected to submit an application this month for a state grant to cover half of the cost of the study. McKean County is working with Elk, Forest and Clarion counties on the proposal to create a 69.9-mile trail from the Kinzua Bridge State Park near Mt. Jewett to Knox in Clarion County. The railroad no longer operates.
McKean County looking into a new trail system in the region.
By Ted Lutz
Kane Republican Staff
A state grant is being sought to study the feasibility of converting the Knox and Kane Railroad right-of-way into a trail system.
The McKean County Planning Commission is expected to file the grant application later this month with the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR).
Debbie Lunden, county planning director, said the state grant would cover half of the cost of the feasibility study, which is estimated at $68,900. McKean, Elk, Forest and Clarion counties would share the other half of the study cost with cash or services, she said.
Lunden is hoping the grant application would be approved by the fall to enable the study to begin by next January or February. She said it would take “a year to complete” the feasibility study. Under this timetable, the study wouldn’t be done until the spring of 2011.
The Knox and Kane Railroad, which ran a tourist train from Marienville to the Kinzua Bridge State Park near Mt. Jewett, no longer is operating. The railroad last fall sold its rolling stock at a public auction. The tracks and certain other pieces of property have been sold to the Kovalchick Corporation, a large scrap dealer from Indiana, Pa. Kovalchick is in the process of requesting authority from the federal Surface Transportation Board (STB) to “abandon” the rail line.
Lunden said the “rail to trail” feasibility study would cover the Knox and Kane Railroad “corridor” for a distance of 69.9 miles from Knox in Clarion County to the Kinzua Bridge State Park.
She said the study “will identify types of uses for the trail, ownership options, maintenance considerations and operation scenarios.”
“This is an opportunity to provide a new trail system connecting four counties,” Lunden said. She said the trail “could increase tourism and have a positive economic impact on the entire region.”
Lunden said she is “very excited” about the proposed feasibility study, which could lead to the development of a first-class trail network.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to preserve a rail corridor,” Lunden said. She said McKean County is taking the “lead” in preparing the grant application. She said Elk, Forest and Clarion counties all support the study. The Ridgway-based North Central Pennsylvania Regional Planning and Development Commission would “administer the grant,” Lunden said.
According to Lunden, the proposed feasibility study would cover both “motorized and non-motorized” uses for the rail corridor as well as the potential use for horseback riders. “Motorized” uses could include snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs).
Lunden said the study also would comment on a proposal to retain the tracks for a possible new tourist train operation from Kane to the Kinzua Bridge State Park.
Lunden said the Kovalchick Corp. is “very supportive” of the plan to preserve the rail corridor as a trail. She said Kovalchick is willing to place the rail corridor in the federal “rail bank” program.
The federal STB administers the “rail bank” program. The federal law allows public agencies to acquire the railroad right-of-way and “bank” it until future rail use is sought from the STB. Public agencies would hold all the property rights held by the railroad, including easements.
Under the “rail bank” program, the rail corridor is not officially “abandoned” by the railroad even though its future use for a railroad is highly unlikely.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 12 June 2009 )
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