Businesses along Carnegie’s Main Street may be looking at an increase in foot traffic, as plans to extend the Panhandle Trail into the borough’s downtown area recently earned an additional $1.5 million in funding.
The award will go toward extending the 29-mile trail from its current endpoint at Walkers Mill in Collier Township all the way to Bell Avenue in Carnegie.
U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio last month announced an award of $1.5 million in state Transportation Alternatives Set-Aside (TASA) funding to Allegheny County for the project. The funding joins another $1.5 million in TASA funding from the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, $850,000 in federal funding as well as other county funds designated for the expansion, bringing the total to more than $3.8 million to extend the trail.
The funding will aid in acquiring approximately 3.4 miles of inactive railroad property and transforming it into multimodal trail space in Carnegie Borough and Collier and Scott townships. The Redevelopment Authority of Allegheny County (RAAC) plans to use the funds to purchase the abandoned Pittsburgh & Ohio Central Railroad property from Genesee and Wyoming Inc., which hasn’t used the land in over a decade.
While the railroad company has yet to issue a final price for the acquisition, the funding currently collected is “close to final,” according to county spokesperson Abigail Gardner. There is no current timeline on when the purchase will be finalized or when construction will take place, and the project is being handled by the county.
“They’re still in the process of coordinating with the railroad in order to see what needs to be done to acquire the rail line,” Carnegie Borough Manager Steven Beuter said. “In speaking with the county and having our support be open-ended, that’s really where [the project is] at.”
According to Carnegie Mayor Sam Bigham, the trail extension will be an “incredible boon” for the borough, as he hopes it will “encourage and enable people to be active outdoors and make the trail more accessible by connecting it to Carnegie’s walkable downtown.”
Bigham anticipates the project will boost economic development as trailgoers begin and end their journeys in the borough’s business district.
The project has been in the works since January 2021, when the borough proposed extending the trail to the Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) Bell Avenue. bus station. The proposal received upward of 1,200 letters in support of the project, and the county completed a feasibility study in 2022. In February, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published an editorial in favor of the project, applauding it as a “low cost, high impact investment” into outdoor recreation and the local economy.
The project’s support forum boasts trail amenities including a pavilion or gazebo, bike racks, fishing areas, kayak launches, wayfinding and informational signage on the history of Carnegie and Collier, solar panels and other potential additions.
“I think developing these [abandoned rail] sites brings more people to the community and more awareness of what’s here, and I think that’s a good thing,” said Carnegie resident Barbara Johnson, who owns a stationary business on Carnegie’s Main Street.
“The trail is far enough from the business district to not impact it in a negative way, but as people do discover that trail and populate the trail, [they] can’t help but to get to know that there’s another community here.”
The proposed trail plan runs below Interstate 79 and alongside the Robinson Run stream, passing next to the Carnegie Park and Ride bus station. In 2020, PRT proposed a transit-oriented development at the station, through the construction of a five-level parking garage with opportunities for future mixed-use retail infrastructure.
Although PRT has not issued an update on the plan since November 2023, PRT spokesperson Adam Brandolph said the project is active and its scope is being refined, with updates expected for the borough this summer or fall.
The expansion is not the only recent project focused on reclaiming unused land in the area. On June 4, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection announced $10.6 million in funding to reclaim abandoned mine land in Settler’s Cabin Park and build a trail connecting the park with the Panhandle Trail.
Tim Downey Jr., president of the Panhandle Trail Association in Collier, has coordinated programs including bridge installations that connect the Panhandle to community trails, and is in support of the trail extension into Carnegie.
“We’ve been working on connectivity throughout Collier Township, and to expand that to the bordering communities,” Downey said. “Fulfilling any gap in the trail is always going to be positive for the region, and I think linking these communities will be a great asset.”
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