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PHOTO:
(Above)
National 9/11
Pentagon Memorial
A New Kind of Heritage Tour
It was trail architect Robert Thomas’ job to plot the
NMT’s east-west trail alignment from the GAP to the
Delaware Basin. As important as the commemoration
of 9/11 is to the project, Thomas observes, the route
transcends recent historical events.
It’s the only leg that is not already determined by
large, established trail routes, so Thomas was, in a
sense, starting with a blank canvas.
Rather than aim for the most direct route, Thomas
proposed a path that zigged and zagged through other
heritage corridors such as the Johnstown Flood Memo-
rial, Gettysburg National Military Park and Main Line
Canal—seeking out community input as he mapped the
alignment.
King, who assisted in mapping the east-west route,
says the trail highlights pieces of American history
unfamiliar to many. The tiny town of Berlin, in Somerset
County, Pennsylvania, for example, was the headquar-
ters of the 1794 Whiskey Rebellion. And Main Line
Canal lock ruins, visible from the Lower Trail in Blair
County, Pennsylvania, testify to 19th-century feats of
engineering.
Overall, Thomas stresses, the trail’s alignment does
more than link historical sites. “[It] also reflects themes
of the trail like tenacity, ingenuity and resilience.”
An Experiment in Connectivity
The September 11th National Memorial Trail is by no
means the country’s first super trail. In fact, it would not
exist at all if not for the connections already forged by
such trails as the GAP and East Coast Greenway. What
is
unique about the NMT is that its founders sought
While the
growing inter-
est in connec-
tivity spurred
interest in the
project, “the
overriding
interest was
the desire to
commemorate
9/11 and honor
the victims
and first re-
sponders.”
Rails to Trails of
Central Pennsylvania
Vice President
Karl King
THIS PAGE: MARABUCHI, CC BY 2.0. OPPOSITE PAGE: MARIA EKLIND, CC BY 2.0; GAIL ZAVIAN
dreds of partners—big and small, public and private—
that made the vast triangle complete.
A Grand National Pilgrimage
The project was born four days after 9/11. The
visionary behind it, David Brickley, is a former Virginia
lawmaker and longtime champion of linear parks. Then
director of the Virginia Department of Conservation
and Recreation, Brickley had planned a multi-state con-
ference for Sept. 15, 2001, to promote trail connectivity
among state, federal and local entities.
Despite the bad timing, 700 trail managers gathered
for the conference, only a few miles from the Pentagon.
“We decided to show our resilience,” Brickley says. “And
while we were there, we hatched this idea of commem-
orating the fallen and first responders by connecting
the three sites into a giant trail.” Thus the September
11th National Memorial Trail Alliance was born.
The concept of linked memorials had never before
driven a U.S. trail project. As Brickley and his board
quickly discovered, the commemorative goal would
unify trail stakeholders at all levels.
“The idea of remembering 9/11 gave tremendous
impact to the whole effort,” says Karl King, vice presi-
dent of Rails to Trails of Central Pennsylvania. While
the growing interest in connectivity spurred interest in
the project, he explains, “the overriding interest was the
desire to commemorate 9/11 and honor the victims
and first responders.”
The mission was compelling enough to draw promi-
nent trail leaders to the cause. For example, East Coast
Greenway’s Mid-Atlantic Coordinator Andy Hamilton
joined the Alliance board and organized charrettes
for the trail in communities across New Jersey and
Pennsylvania.
“The response to the 9/11 trail,” Hamilton remarks,
“is always of an emotion, not just a trail.”
Lifelong cyclist Eric Brenner, who chairs Maryland’s
Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee, agrees. He
describes it as a politically diverse effort characterized
by a spirit of cooperation he’s never before experi-
enced.
“For example,” Brenner explains, “the Susquehanna
River U.S. Route 40 toll bridge near Havre de Grace
[Maryland] has always been a pretty big gap in the East
Coast Greenway. But as of July 1, bikes will be allowed
[by the Maryland Transportation Administration]. This
is a group
everyone
pays attention to.”
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RAILS TO TRAILS FALL 2016
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