Luzerne County National Recreation Trail |
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Home » Luzerne County » Departments/Agencies » Parks and Recreation » Trails » Luzerne County National Recreation Trail |
 Luzerne County National Recreation Trail
SEGMENTS OPEN
Redevelopment Authority of Luzerne County
Allen Bellas, Executive Director
16 Luzerne Avenue, Ste. 210
West Pittston, PA 18643
P: (570)655-3329
F: (570)655-3287
TRAIL DESCRIPTION: Phase I of the Luzerne County National Recreation Trail is open, running 1.8 miles from Pittston’s Riverfront Park to Port Griffith. Trail is packed gravel, and can be used by bikers, walkers, joggers, and dog-walkers, and cross-country skiers in winter.
When complete, the Luzerne County National Recreation Trail will be 16 miles long, running along an active freight line on the east side of the Susquehanna River. In Wilkes-Barre, the trail will provide direct or on-street connections to the Susquehanna River Levee Trail System. Phase II of the Luzerne County National Recreation Trail will go from Port Griffith to Wilkes-Barre, and Phase III will go North from Pittston to Old Forge.
THINGS TO SEE: The Luzerne County National Recreation Trail offers views of Susquehanna River and a number of occasionally flooded islands in the river which provide special habitat for birds and other animals and plants. The Trail also accesses the site of the Knox Mine disaster, when miners accidentally opened a breech to the river in 1959. This disaster flooded mines from Wilkes-Barre to Pittston, and ended anthracite mining in Pennsylvania.
TRAILHEADS AND PARKING: Parking and trail access is located at the waterfront in Pittston, at Cooper’s Seafood Waterfront restaurant, 304 Kennedy Blvd. or a local municipal lot by the Greater Pittston Chamber of Commerce. Trail access and parking can also be found off River Rd./Main St. about 1.5 miles south of Pittston and about .5 miles north of the 8th Street bridge just north of where River Road crosses trail/freight rail line on a bridge.
FUNDING:
The Luzerne County National Recreation Trail has received approximately $1.13 million to design and construct Phase 1 of the trail, and to design Phase 2 of the trail. The National Recreation Trail has also received a small amount of funding ($10,000) to develop a park at the site of the Knox Mine disaster.
RECENT/CURRENT ACTIVITIES AND ISSUES:
Acquisition: All property is owned by the Redevelopment Authority of Luzerne County.
Planning, Design, Construction: Trail will start design of Phase II in 2008; design and development of Knox mine disaster park will also occur in 2008.
Events: Dedication held June 2nd 2007 to celebrate first 1.8 miles of trail.
Management/Maintenance: All maintenance on the trail will be done by the Redevelopment Authority of Luzerne County.
Other: The trail has some issues with vandalism of protective fence between trail and rail line. Trail photo won National Photo contest for education/training with photo of local Knox mine disaster marker.
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Last Updated: Fri May 16 18:25:38 EDT 2008
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