Ohio River Trail

Ohio River Trail Council

The [Ohio River Trail Council](ORTC) is a non-profit, volunteer-led corporation whose mission is to establish, promote, protect and preserve a multi-use trail, the Ohio River Trail (ORT), along the Ohio River and it's tributaries from the Columbiana Greenway Trail, near East Liverpool, OH and Chester, WV to the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) via the Montour Trail in Moon Township, Pa, and the Three Rivers Heritage Trail in Pittsburgh, Pa. The ORTC is also interested in preserving abandoned rail corridors, trolley lines, and canal towpaths as public trails. This preservation offers our children the chance to experience and discover the history of Western Pennsylvania. The ORTC will focus its efforts on highlighting historical sites in Beaver & Allegheny County and showcasing or displaying the history of steel manufacturing and railroading via the Ohio River Trail Museum. Most importantly, the Ohio River Trail Council mission shall enhance the economic development and the quality of life for citizens of Beaver and Allegheny County.

Ohio River Trail Council Greenways & Trail Proposal

The Ohio River Trail Council (ORTC) proposes a multi-use trail, the Ohio River Trail (ORT), along the “La Belle Riviere” or the Ohio River from the Columbiana Greenway Trail, near East Liverpool, OH to the Montour Trail in Moon Township near Groveton, Pa, and the Three Rivers Heritage Trail in Pittsburgh, Pa.

The Ohio River Trail is composed of twenty Western Pennsylvania Communities: There are eleven North Shore communities: Glasgow, Ohioville, Midland, Industry, Vanport, Beaver, Bridgewater, Fallston, New Brighton, Rochester, Rochester Township and there are nine South Shore communities: Monaca, Center Township, Aliquippa, Hopewell Township, South Heights, Crescent, Moon Township, Coraopolis and Montour Junction.

The Columbiana Greenway Trail is part of the Great Ohio Lake-to-River Greenway that extends 115 miles from the Ohio River in East Liverpool, OH to Lake Erie at Ashtabula Harbor, OH.

The ORTC proposal will interconnect two of the largest recreation trails in the United States and thereby creating a trail system of approximately 500 miles.

The Ohio River Trail will begin at “The Beginning Point of the U.S. Public Land Survey”, mile marker zero, where a monument and park exists at the border between the state of Ohio and Pennsylvania, on the north side (right bank) of the Ohio River. It is near the three-way intersection of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and the northern tip of West Virginia. Built in 1881, it was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1965. The "Point of Beginning" commemorative site is located about two miles east of the center of East Liverpool on Ohio State Route 39 and Pennsylvania Route 68 in Glasgow, Pa.

The historic [Point of Beginning] is a surveyor's mark for the wide-scale surveying of land. It is significant as being the beginning point from which the Public Land Survey System was performed, starting in 1785, which would open what was then the Northwest Territory for settlement. The Beginning Point of the U.S. Public Land Survey is the starting point of the surveys of almost all other lands to the west, reaching all the way to the Pacific Ocean. On September 30, 1785, Thomas Hutchins, first Geographer of the United States, began surveying the Seven Ranges at the Point of Beginning.

This part of the Ohio River Trail will be known as the Ohio River North Shore Trail which lies on the right bank of the Ohio River. A portion of the North Shore Trail will utilize a double-track electric interurban right of way used by the Ohio River Railway Passenger Company. Service ran 11.29 miles from a point just east of the Ohio - Pennsylvania State Border near Glasgow and Smiths Ferry along the Ohio River to Vanport, Pa. There the Beaver Valley Traction Company serviced approximately a one-mile corridor from Vanport to Rochester. Operation began in 1906 and remained in service until 1937 when buses replaced streetcar service and the right of way was abandoned in 1939. Bus service between Steubenville and Beaver operated by Valley Motor Transit Co., presumably replaced the interurban railway, and existed into 1950's. This picturesque trail will parallel Pa State Road 68, which was originally cut and graded into high, steep and precipitous hillsides with bluffs alternately advancing and receding from the shore of the Ohio River.

The North Shore Trail will travel through Ohioville with a trailhead and parking facilities at Lock 57 Community Park and Boating Facility. The Trail continues along the right bank of the Little Beaver Creek and the abandoned Sandy & Beaver Canal, a spur of the Ohio-Erie Canal, to the Ohio - Pa State line.

The Sandy and Beaver Canal ran 73 miles from the Ohio and Erie Canal at Bolivar, Ohio, to the Ohio River at Glasgow, Pennsylvania. It had 90 locks, was chartered in 1828 and completed in 1848. According to Denver Walton who wrote "Beaver County's Towpath Canals Today" there were only three Sandy & Beaver Canal Locks in Pennsylvania, numbers 57, 56, and 54 . Locks were actually numbered downstream from the summit level near Lisbon, OH. Lock 57 was at the end of Liberty St. in Glasgow, Pa. Lock 56 was along Beaver Creek a few hundred yards upstream. No remnants exist of these two locks. Lock 55 was in Ohio, following the Little Beaver Creek as it meanders across the PA-OH state line. Lock 54 is in an excellent state of preservation and lies on the west bank (right bank) of Beaver Creek, in Ohioville Borough, Pa. The historic Lock 54 is well worth seeing but it is inaccessible due to undulating terrain and requires a difficult hike. The ORTC proposal includes an extension of the ORT to the site of Lock 54.

Nevertheless, the middle section of the canal had many problems from the beginning and fell into disrepair. The canal ceased to operate in 1852, when the Cold Run Reservoir Dam outside of Lisbon, Ohio, broke, destroying a large portion of the canal. Only 0.75 miles (1 km) of this privately funded canal lay in Pennsylvania; the rest was in Ohio.

The ORT will cross the Little Beaver Creek with a newly constructed bridge. At this location, the ORT may connect to an extension of the Columbiana County, Ohio Trail from Lisbon, OH. The ORT reverses course and now follows the left bank of the Little Beaver Creek along the abandoned Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad right of way. As railroads came into Ohio from Pennsylvania, canal and river traffic declined, and the founding of the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad Company contributed to the closing of the Sandy and Beaver Canal. In 1856, a Cleveland & Pittsburgh (C&P) Railroad train departing Cleveland became the first to burn coal in its locomotive engine. Coal, a more efficient fuel, quickly supplanted wood as the railroads' energy source. In 1871 the C&P RR was leased for 99 years to the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), providing a valuable western connection. The C&P RR at its height in 1908, operated 256 miles of trackage and carried over 1.8 million passengers.

As the trail returns to the Ohio River and Glasgow, Pa., the Ohio River North Trail enters Glasgow on Main Street and exits on Smith Ferry Road. As the trail continues through Ohioville and Midland upstream along the Ohio River, the user will have magnificent views of Phillis and Georgetown Islands. These islands are number one and two respectively of the Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge. Traveling by these islands an onlooker may see waterbirds, migratory songbirds and raptors, including bald eagle and peregrine falcons. You may also see beavers, cottontail rabbits, minks, muskrats, opossums, raccoons, woodchucks and white-tailed deer as listed by the The Nature Conservancy.

The North Shore Trail continues through Industry passing Montgomery Locks and Dam. Montgomery Locks and Dam was constructed from 1932 to 1936. This facility eliminated the original Locks and Dams 4 (built 1898-1908), 5 (1898-1907) and 6 (1892-1904). These three dams were old-style wooden wicket dams built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to raise the first shallow navigational pool on this stretch of the Ohio. As the trail continues views of Montgomery Island and historic Merrill Lock 6 are seen. Lock 6 was constructed on the Ohio River in 1906. Lock 6 was also a passenger station for the C&P. The trail follows the double track right of way and emerges in Vanport near Sebring Rd, which was near the North end of the Ohio River Passenger Railway (OPRP) Vanport Trestle. The Vanport Trestle was 633 in length, a 6.8% grade east, and exhibited a magnificent view at an elevation of 780 feet. After leaving Sebring Rd the trail traverses Vanport and Beaver Historic District with vistas of the Ohio River along River Road to historic Fort McIntosh Park.

Fort McIntosh, located along the Ohio River at Beaver, Pa. was the first United States Army fort on the northern banks of the Ohio. The fort's site was rediscovered by archaeologists in the twentieth century and converted into a park. Lines of stones can be seen and are parts of the original foundation. Under the name of Fort McIntosh Site, the park is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The trail then approaches the waterfront and merges with a trailhead at Bridgewater Crossing Riverfront Park and Trail, in Bridgewater, Pa. The Bridgewater Trail was developed by the Beaver County Corporation for Economic Development, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and support from PennDOT.

Part of the proposed ORT follows the Beaver and Erie Canal, also known as the Erie Extension Canal. The Canal was part of the Pennsylvania Canal system. The canal traveled 136 miles from the Ohio River to Lake Erie. The southern terminus of the canal was the confluence of the Beaver River with the Ohio River in Bridgewater and Rochester Pa., and the northern terminus was the city of Erie, in Erie County. The canal needed a total of 137 locks to overcome a change in elevation of 977 feet.

Denver Walton also wrote that the Beaver Division was completed in 1832 and began at Bridgewater - Rochester, stretching north to a point above New Castle called Harbor Bridge, a distance of 31 miles, where it joined the Erie Extension Canal to Erie. At Mahoningtown, south of New Castle (and until 1849, part of Beaver County) the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal (P&O) branched off, heading to Youngstown, Warren, and Akron, where it joined the Ohio and Erie Canal. There are no remnants of the P&0 Canal in Pennsylvania today.

There were 17 locks on the Beaver Division, nine of them in present day Beaver County, and six dams. The locks were numbered south from New Castle, so the two at Rochester were numbers 16 and 17. They were called the Girard Locks, for a Philadelphia financier who invested in the canal, and were larger than the other locks, big enough to pass small steamboats.

The Girard Locks remained in a good state of preservation until 1970 when a sewage pumping station was built on top of them. The outer wall can still be seen. Some canal facilities, namely a stone abutment for Dam no. 6 can be seen in Bridgewater and is part of the Bridgewater Historic District.

Locks 15,14,13, and 12 were at the lower end of New Brighton, each about a city block apart. They existed until 1926 until the Pennsylvania Railroad changed its route through town to the riverbank and covered them up. They were called, moving north, the Blount Lock, Boyle's Lock, Buck Woods' Lock, and Van Lear's Lock. The origin of these names is obscure, except that there was a canal boat captain named Jack Boyle.

None of these locks are visible now except for the river wall of the Blount Lock, which can be seen quite clearly from the historic Fallston Bridge. From the four locks, the canal proceeded in its own channel to the Beaver Falls Dam, (originally Dam no. 5 on the canal) where the Dutchman's Lock no. 11 was located. The existing east abutment of the dam may be the river wall of the lock.

The canal proceeded north in the river channel, called slackwater, to Eastvale, where there was Dam no. 4 and a short stretch of canal with two locks. These were the Bannon and Farrow Locks, nos. 10 and 9. Bannon was another canal boat owner. A large pile of stories on the riverbank shows the site of one of these locks, and drill marks in the native rock show where the canal was cut into the bank. From here the canal proceeded north again in slackwater, this stretch being called the Seven - mile level.

Next was Lock no. 8, Dam no. 3 located at Rock Point, just north of the county line. Here the lock site is quite evident. This was the location of the Metheny Tavern, a notable landmark on the canal and later a railroad station. Part of the tavern foundation can still be seen. It was here that James A. Garfield, the 20th President of the United States, as a young canal boat hand, nearly drowned in the Connoquenessing Creek.

The Erie Canal Company finished construction in 1844 when the entire length became open to traffic. At its southern terminus near Bridgewater, the Beaver and Erie was linked by the Ohio River to Pittsburgh and the principal east-west Pennsylvania transportation system of the time, the Main Line of Public Works. The Beaver and Erie Canal was heavily used in its early years but was difficult to maintain. Competition from railroads and the collapse of an aqueduct over Elk Creek in Erie County led to the canal's abandonment in 1872.

From the Bridgewater Trail, the Ohio River North Shore will continue through the Bridgewater Historic District along the right bank of the Beaver River to Fallston, crossing the Beaver River via the preserved historic Fallston Bridge on Fallston Street to New Brighton. Then a right turn onto Second Ave, a right turn onto Nineteen Street and under Norfolk Southern Bridge to the left bank of the Beaver River. A left turn allows the trail to follow along an existing National Fuel Gas Supply Corporation easement through Rochester Township. A branch via YMCA Drive leads to a trailhead parking at the Beaver County YMCA.

Based on the Beaver County Planning Commission’s 2008 Annual Report, a second alternative to crossing the Beaver River would be the planned Veterans Memorial Bridge from Bridgewater to Rochester Township.

National Fuel’s history dates from the earliest days of the natural gas and oil industry in the United States. The Company has been responsible for many industry firsts. Today, the Company continues to be managed in the same innovative and entrepreneurial spirit, and takes pride in its 100-year tradition of delivering service and value. Pipeline and Storage National Fuel Gas Supply Corporation provides interstate natural gas transportation and storage for companies through an integrated gas pipeline system that extends 2,910 miles from southwestern Pennsylvania to the New York-Canadian border at the Niagara River. The North Shore Trail will continue along the National Fuel easement, crossing McKinley Run to Old Beaver River Blvd at Riverfront Park and Water Street in Flag Park, Rochester. Flag Park was constructed in the spring of 2001. The Park was dedicated on Flag Day, June 14, 2001.

From the trailhead and parking facilities at Flag Park the trail continues along Harrison Street, James Ave, and Pleasant Street. In addition, there are two Ohio River Trail extensions proposed. The first extension is from Fallston along the Bradys Run connecting to Bradys Run Park, home of the Bradys Run Park Mountain Bike Trail and Brads Run Lake. The second proposed extension is from the Fallston Bridge to Beaver Falls connecting to the Beaver River Trail.

The North Shore Trail will cross the Ohio River on the Monaca - Rochester Bridge from Pleasant St. on Route 18 into Monaca. The ORTC proposes to extend the ORT from Monaca, Pa to the southeast and connect to the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) via the Montour Trail, near mile marker zero, which extends forty-six miles from Moon Township near Groveton, PA to Clairton, Pa. and the Three Rivers Heritage Trail in Pittsburgh, Pa.

This multi-use trail will be known as the Ohio River South Shore Trail, which lies on the left bank. The South Shore Trail after leaving the Monaca Business District travels along Beaver Ave and Woodlawn Ave through Center Township, Aliquippa and Hopewell Township. The Monaca to Aliquippa trail passes through a brownfield, which is the remnant of the Jones & Laughlin (J&L) Steel Corporation Plant that began operations in 1905.

The trail passes beneath the Ambridge-Aliquippa Bridge where a ramp is proposed for the trail to cross the Ohio River to Ambridge on the bridge’s pedestrian sidewalk. The Ambridge-Aliquippa Bridge is a steel cantilever through truss bridge, which opened to the public on December 28, 1926. The Beaver County owned bridge was originally named the Woodlawn-Ambridge Bridge but was soon renamed Ambridge-Aliquippa when Woodland was eclipsed by the rapid expansion of the Aliquippa Works of the Jones & Laughlin Steel Company. Ambridge was incorporated in 1910 - named after the American Bridge Company which had significant operations along the Ohio River opposite the Jones & Laughlin Steel Company. The American Bridge Company is a privately held civil engineering firm specializing in the construction and renovation of bridges. American Bridge was founded in 1900 and is presently headquartered in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania.

The ramp will connect the trail to the citizens of Ambridge and historic Old Economy Village. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission's Old Economy mission is to "interpret the history of the Harmony Society, a highly successful 19th century religious communal society, and preserves and interprets the unique material culture of the Society during its period of residence in Beaver County, Pennsylvania for citizens of and visitors to the Commonwealth." "The Old Economy Village was the home of the nineteenth century Christian communal group, the Harmony Society. Established in 1824, Economy was known worldwide for its piety and industrial prosperity."

At this point, the Ohio River Trail becomes a rails-with-trails project. In South Heights, the trail parallels the CSX Transportation Railroad (CSX) (former Pittsburgh & Lake Erie corridor) to Crescent Township, with a trailhead and parking facilities at Shouse Park, home of John Moore Outlook Pointe.

CSX Transportation is a Class I railroad. Along this part of the trail, the Coke Express CSX Train can be seen which runs between Pittsburgh and Chicago, carrying Coke, a fuel produced from a low-ash, low-sulfur bituminous coal, to industries such as power plants and steel mills.

From Crescent, the trail continues along the parallel the CSX Railroad route passing the Dashields Locks and Dam. Dashields was constructed from 1927-29 and opened for navigation in August 1929. Dashields eliminated Lock and Dam 3, which was an old style wicket dam built from 1899-1907.

After leaving Crescent, the trail passes underneath the Sewickley Bridge where a second ramp is proposed for the trail to cross the Ohio River from Moon Township, Pa. to Sewickley, Pa. on the bridge’s pedestrian sidewalk. The Sewickley Bridge is a steel continuous truss bridge built by American Bridge Company. The Sewickley Bridge opened October 21, 1981. The bridge crosses 73 feet above the river. The bridge is owned by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT).

The ORT trailhead and parking may be located at Sewickley Riverfront Park. The park is a favorite among railfans. Trainspotters can view Norfolk Southern, former Conrail, Penn Central, and Pennsylvania Railroad mainline trains. This location is just minutes away from the famous Conway Yards.

The Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) is a Class I railroad which primarily hauls coal from mines in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. In 1999, NS grew substantially with the acquisition of over half of Conrail.

From the Sewickley Bridge the trail continues through Moon Township, and Coraopolis. In Coraopolis, the trail will pass the historic Coraopolis Railroad Station. The Trail will continue along a parallel route to Lendra Street in Groveton, Pa. The connection will be made to the Montour Trail by turning right onto Lenora Drive and crossing Elizabeth St and then merging with an abandoned Montour Railroad right of way. The right of way continues across the Montour Run in Montour Junction over an existing abandoned concrete railroad bridge to the area near Montour Trail marker zero. The ORTC long-term plans includes an extension of the ORT along the left bank of the Ohio River from Groveton Pa. in Montour Junction towards Pittsburgh via Robinson Township, Kennedy Township, Stowe Township and McKees Rocks where the ORT could connect to a proposed sixteen mile stream corridor, the Chartiers Creek Trail or Greenway.

The present connection from the Montour Trail to Beaver County is the PennDOT BicyclePa-Route A, which is a share-the-road bike route. Thus, this route is shared with high-speed motor vehicles along PA State Route 51 and bicycle rider safety is a key concern. The ORTC is not in favor of the share-the-road bike routes on high speed highways unless bike lanes are clearly demarcated. A share-the-road corridor is one that is open to both bicycle and motor vehicle travel. A bike lane is defined as a portion of a roadway, minimum width of five feet, which is designated by striping, signing, and pavement markings for the preferential or exclusive use of bicyclists. Bicycle lanes must be one-way facilities that carry bike traffic in the same direction as the adjacent motor vehicle traffic. Two-way bicycle lanes are not recommended when they result in bicyclists riding against the flow of traffic. Wrong-way riding is a major cause of bicycle accidents and violates the Uniform Vehicle Code. For further information, refer to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) “Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities” and The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) Part Nine, “Traffic Controls for Bicycle Facilities”. The ORTC proposal recommends the relocation of part of BicyclePa-Route A to the ORT. This permits children, adults and commuters to travel safely while surrounded by nature and minimizing vehicular traffic.

The Montour Trail is organized under the Allegheny Trail Alliance along with seven other trails. The Panhandle Trail, which intersects the Montour Trail, stretches 29 miles between Carnegie, PA, and Weirton, WV. The Great Allegheny Passage is a 150-mile system of biking and hiking trails that connects Cumberland, MD and Pittsburgh, PA. The connection to the Chesapeake and Ohio (C & O) Canal Towpath in Cumberland, MD was made in 2006, creating a continuous non-motorized corridor, 318 miles long, from McKeesport, near Pittsburgh, to Washington, DC.

The Great Allegheny Passage is a segment of the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail. The Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail is a partnership to develop a network of locally managed trails in a corridor between the mouth of the Potomac River and the Allegheny Highlands. As of Autumn 2008, 830 miles of existing and planned trails have been recognized as segments of the National Scenic Trail. The National Scenic Trail includes the District of Columbia, Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania.

The Montour Trail Council may extend the Montour Trail a short distance to connect to a proposed sports complex. The Sports Legacy Foundation donated 78 acres of land in Coraopolis, Moon Twp. and Robinson Twp. to the Redevelopment Authority of Allegheny County. The property will be developed into an Allegheny Sports and Athletic Complex that will include a number of athletic fields, recreational programming, trout fishing and a mile-long extension of the Montour Trail.

In addition, the ORT will be an important link in a proposed "Tri-State Greenway". A trail user may begin in Pennsylvania at mile marker zero on the ORT and travel through Glasgow, Ohioville, Midland, Industry, Vanport, Beaver, Bridgewater, Rochester, Monaca, Center Township, Aliquippa, Hopewell Township, South Heights, Crescent Township, Moon Township and Coraopolis near Groveton, and then continue traveling on the Montour Trail towards McDonald, Pa. The Montour Trail intersects with the Panhandle Trail at McDonald, Pa. From McDonald the Panhandle Trail continues to Weirton, WV where the proposed Great Ohio Lake-to-River Greenway extension would return the trail user to East Liverpool, OH and complete the trip to the Point of the Beginning or the ORT mile marker zero. The circuitous route is approximately 100 miles long, which would be very popular tour with century riders.

An additional "Tri-State Greenway" opportunity is to start at the "Point of Beginning" and travel along the ORT North Shore Trail to Midland, Pa and cross the Ohio River on the Shippingport bridge and merge with a trail constructed on the abandoned Cumberland & Chester Railroad Right of Way from Shippingport, Pa to Georgetown, Pa in Greene Township (Beaver County) and Chester, WV. This section would be an extension of the Ohio River South Shore Trail. In Chester WV, the trail would cross the Chester - East Liverpool Bridge and continue to the "Point of Beginning" along the Ohio River.

Finally, the Council can envision an "Ohio River Trail" extending from Pittsburgh, Pa to the Mississippi River at Cairo, Illinois. Presenty the Ohio River Way is constructing the "Ohio River Trail" from Cincinatti, Ohio to Maysville, OH. In addition, the Ohio River Trail in Wheeling WV is part of the Wheeling Heritage Trails. The trail runs north-south starting at the city line in South Wheeling and reaches the Pike Island Dam where the trail continues into Brooke County. With the proposed extension of the Great Ohio Lake to River from the Point of beginning to Weirton, WV the Ohio River Trail is on its way to becoming a reality.