Project will move Westmoreland County trail away from railroad track
The Five Star Trail in Westmoreland County will soon see work to get the trail away from the rail.
The Five Star Trail sees hundreds of outdoor enthusiasts each day, but it also sees several trains running alongside it.
And in the 1-mile portion of the trail that sits between Shady Lane near Youngwood and Fairview Avenue near South Greensburg, there is little room between man and machine, says Westmoreland County Parks and Recreation coordinator Jeff Richards.
"Twenty mph doesn't sound like it's fast," Richards said. "But it creates a vacuum effect that if you are a small person or of light weight, you could be pulled by the vacuum of the moving train towards the train and that is just a huge liability concern."
Westmoreland County Parks and Recreation director Mark Katarski says that work has already begun to clear brush from the side of the trail in anticipation of the construction starting in the next two weeks.
And he says while this trail runs through five municipalities — Greensburg, South Greensburg, Southwest Greensburg, Hempfield Township and Youngwood — it takes a village of people, money and resources to see something like this come to fruition.
"It is a combination of federal, state and local funding," Katarski said about the project. "I think it is also important to not overlook the volunteers that we have and the sweat equity that they will also give to this, leading up to it and afterwards. But we are really pleased with the partnerships we have at the governmental level and the county commissioners have been incredibly supportive from the beginning in this project."
Now officials are hoping that work on this section of the trail will be completed sometime around Thanksgiving, just in time for folks to get out and burn off some of those excess calories.