As spring turns over into summer, walking trails all across Southwestern Pennsylvania will see more activity, and not just from folks looking to get some exercise.
Nonprofit groups and volunteers regularly seek grants and funding to maintain, improve and host community events along those trails.
In Murrysville, Westmoreland Heritage Trail officials recently completed resurfacing work along a section of the trail running between Export and Trafford. A significant portion of the work wraps up repairs to heavy damage from a June 2025 storm that carved a path across the trail and rendered it temporarily unusable.
Stan Rudge, president of the board of directors for the Heritage Trail, said the Pennsylvania Environmental Council chose it to help pilot a new element of the council’s T.R.A.I.L.S. program, which stands for Training Regional Advocates, Investing in Long-term Sustainability.
“They showed us how to create a geolocation map where we can add trail assessment information, keep track of what needs work and when,” Rudge said. “We were one of two trails chosen as sort of a beta test site for it.”
Hear more about the T.R.A.I.L.S. initiative below.
Trail officials also will hold their annual festival and poker run June 6 in B-Y Park at the Trafford end of the trail, featuring live music, food, basket raffles and a poker run along the trail for bicyclists and pedestrians.
“Our registrations are already up this year,” festival organizer Vicki Rudge said. “It’s going to be a great morning with music, basket raffles, beer and fun. It’s wonderful seeing people come out and show how much they love the trail.”
Design work is also ongoing to solve the Heritage Trail’s biggest challenge — crossing Route 66, which will happen by way of the old rail tunnel that once existed near Industrial Drive in Salem Township.
From there, the Heritage Trail will continue northeast toward Delmont, where borough recreation officials are hoping to expand the walking trail at Newhouse Park.
“It’s one of the park’s major attractions during the week,” said recreation board member Stan Cheyne. “There are some cracks and things that need repaired, and we have a grant that can be used to resurface the trail.”
The current trail loops around the ball fields at Newhouse Park and runs between the tennis and basketball courts.
“We thought we could extend the trail behind the basketball court and make it a little longer,” Cheyne said. “That work would also include decreasing one of the steeper grades on the trail now.”
Recreation officials secured a $100,000 grant to fund the project, and it requires a $70,000 match.
Apollo area project
In Apollo, members of the Roaring Run Watershed Association are preparing to embark on a $100,000 project to replace a bridge along the Rock Furnace Trail that follows Roaring Run north from the Kiski River.
“We’d like to replace it with another covered bridge,” said Ken Kaminski, Roaring Run’s board of directors president. “There’s an old cement bridge there now, and it’s starting to go.”
Kaminski said local contractor Swank Construction has completed the main beams that will support the new bridge.
“We’re working our way toward it,” he said.
In July, Roaring Run officials host a unique fundraiser called Race to the Moon.
“It’s a 5K run and walk, but it’s held at 9 o’clock at night in the dark, and everyone carries a light with them,” Kaminski said. “We give prizes away, and we light the whole trail with luminaries up and down. It’s our biggest annual fundraiser, so we’re really hoping people will participate in that.”
Roaring Run is fairly unique in the region, because it is not affiliated with any local government.
“We work strictly off donations and fundraisers like Race to the Moon,” Kaminski said.
North Hills’ Harmony Trail
North of Pittsburgh, in the Wexford neighborhood spanning McCandless and Pine, visitors to the Harmony Trail will encounter a fully formed bridge occupying part of the parking lot. The bridge is part of a commitment by Pine officials to accommodating foot traffic along the trail, which runs between Richard Road in McCandless and Route 910 in Pine.
“Our long-term goal is to extend the trail both north and south,” said John Stephen, development director for the Rachel Carson Trail Network, which includes the Harmony Trail. “Pine Township has been taking the lead on crossing over (Route) 910, and it’s been a challenge.”
The bridge will bring trail users across Wexford Run to a spot across from Brennan Road, where a set of blinking yellow lights and a crosswalk will allow them to cross more safely to the other side of Route 910.
“Hopefully they can get the bridge put into place sometime this year,” Stephen said.
Rachel Carson Trail Challenge
Trail network officials also are preparing for the 29th annual Rachel Carson Trail Challenge, set for Saturday, June 20.
This year, participants will be tasked with finishing a 37-mile hike beginning in North Park and ending at Harrison Hills Park. There are also an 8-mile challenge that leaves from Tarentum and a 19-mile challenge that starts near the Rachel Carson Homestead in Springdale.
“We’ve been working with Springdale and Cheswick to come up with a conservation and recreation plan for Agan Park,” Stephen said. “We’ll probably release that plan this summer, and hopefully it will include some trail building through those woodland areas after the Trail Challenge is over.”
Efforts in Baldwin
South of the city, the nonprofit Friends of the Riverfront is working toward the opening of Eagles Landing Park in Baldwin along the Three Rivers Heritage Trail.
“We had some issues with the lead time on steel beams we needed,” said Madelyn Dayton, Friends of the Riverfront communications and development director. “We’ve improved the area along a grassy side of the trail with picnic tables and improved river access. It should be open sometime in later summer or early fall.”
The Friends group also hosts a number of volunteer events throughout the summer.
“People can help clean up litter, they can help plant trees,” Dayton said. “We have a ‘Projects’ page on our website, and they’re separated into trail building, stewardship and restoration projects.”
For more, see FriendsoftheRiverfront.org.
