Ground Broken For Allegheny Passage's Final Mile

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) --- A rumbling freight train accents a moment many thought might never come.  A one-mile stretch of Allegheny Passage, sandwiched between the tracks and Sandcastle Park, will soon be completed. 

Allegheny County County Executive Rich Fitzgerald breaks ground on a project that will complete 370 miles of trail, from Pittsburgh to Washington, DC.  The final link will culminate years of negotiation, led by Linda McKenna Boxx, president of the Allegheny Trail Alliance.

"There's not a lot of real estate here for Sandcastle to operate their water park, and get their vehicles in and out of the park safely," Boxx says.  "So that was the big concern, keeping everybody safe."

Former Pittsburgh mayor and bicycling enthusiast Tom Murphy credits tenacity and vision. 

"Some people just saw an abandoned railroad line.  Maybe a symbol of the decline of the industrial  base. And others saw a huge opportunity," Murphy says.

The trail is slated for completion on April 15th.

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