Town-to-town via trails: Nonprofit presents vision for trail connectivity in south-central PA

• By Rachel Curry/For LNP | LancasterOnline

What if south-central Pennsylvanians could go from town to town via a connected trail system without having to hop on major roadways?

A recent assessment from the nonprofit organization Pennsylvania Environmental Council includes a vision for trail connectivity in the region, which representatives and collaborators presented at this year’s Pennsylvania Greenways and Trails Summit on Tuesday, Sept. 23 in Harrisburg. The event brought together a range of professionals from government agencies, conservation groups, engineering companies and more who are involved in trail and greenway work across the state, helping network, train and inspire people to push the trail system forward.

“When I looked at what was going on here, it looked very much like people building out from their core strengths, but nobody’s actually building to each other,” says Patrick Starr, executive vice president of PEC.

The report finds that across Franklin, Adams, Cumberland, York, Lancaster, Lebanon and Dauphin counties where 1.9 million Pennsylvanians live, there are a number of core trails already built and being built out, including the Enola Low-Grade Trail, Northwest River Trail, Lebanon Valley Trail, York County Heritage Rail Trail, Hanover Trolley Trail, Cumberland Valley Rail Trail and 9/11 National Memorial Trail. Many of these trails exist along abandoned railroads thanks in part to the Rail to Trail Act of 1983.

Ultimately, what PEC calls the South Central Trail Network is composed of around 400 miles, with 240 miles of core trails and 160 miles of connecting or supporting trails. Still, six critical gaps totaling 52 miles have been identified throughout the major corridors. PEC and other organizations working alongside them want to close those gaps for a cohesive trail network.

The report says the largest gaps are from Columbia to the Enola Low Grade Trail in Washington Boro, and from the Village of Falmouth to Harrisburg through Steelton—a corridor extending 73.5 miles, with 48.2 built miles marking a 65.5 percent completion rate. Another critical gap is Lancaster to York, with the assessment proposing connections from Lancaster to Columbia and Wrightsville to York (plus bridge improvements for pedestrian and bicycle traffic across the river) as key priorities.

While these ideas are still far from the feasibility study stage, Starr says it’s the first step in what he hopes will be a productive future. “We have to market this to our state agencies. We need to establish some critical working groups for the gaps, go out and talk about it with our elected officials, agree on a process,” he says.

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Economic impact

“Trails in some people’s eyes are just a nice thing to have,” says Lori Yeich, recreation and conservation manager for the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Bureau of Recreation and Conservation. “We all know that they are a necessity for our economy and for our way of life.”

DCNR, which supported 36 trail projects in the state in 2024 through its grant program (among other park and recreation projects), understands the value of the outdoor economy through avenues like trails. In 2023, Pennsylvania’s outdoor recreation economy was 1.9 percent of the gross domestic product, worth $18.9 billion, according to DCNR.

One example of economic value from trails is a recent development on the Enola Low Grade Trail: the Quarryville Connector. “Quarryville Borough is the only borough along this 28-mile corridor. So those of us in the room say, ‘Quarryville, you’ve got a gold mine,’” says Yeich.

In August alone, 500 bikes and 500 pedestrians came off of the Quarryville Connector into the borough.

A recent study on the York Heritage Rail Trail found that the trail averages nearly 264,000 visitors each year, with day visitors making an average daily purchase of $13.76. For those who stay overnight, that goes up to $113 per night.

Jason Meckes, director of experience development for Visit Hershey & Harrisburg, says regional marketing organizations like his have a stake in this, too. “When you put this mileage together and connect people to these amenities, the benefits are incredible. Jobs, businesses, tax revenue,” he says.

Meckes compiled his own research to augment PEC’s trail connectivity assessment, finding that a connected regional rail trail system could increase tax revenue by $49.1 million annually, support more than 2,000 jobs in hospitality, tourism and recreation and rake in $309 million to the economy each year.

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Community impact

Property values along trail corridors see a 13-percent increase—a finding that combats common landowner arguments against developing rail trails and other trail systems along their property.

“I love remote wilderness hiking trails, like the Appalachian Trail, but my heart is with rail trails because they are community-building machines,” says Allen Dieterich-Ward, board member of the Cumberland Valley Rails to Trails Council. In 2017, the Cumberland Valley Rail Trail extended to Shippensburg University, and they’re now working on extending the trail further to safely connect it with downtown Shippensburg.

The important question, Dieterich-Ward says, is, “How do we make sure that people who come from outside the area biking down on the rail trail don’t simply turn around and leave?”

As for PEC’s vision plan for a connected trail system across south central Pennsylvania, Starr says it’s the shared vision that makes it possible to work across political boundaries. “What makes the core trails even more valuable is if they connect to other trails that people are interested in,” he says.