Christopher Dacanay
GRANT — Active transportation planning regarding the Market Street Bridge will be an aspect of the Brooke Hancock Jefferson Metropolitan Planning Commission’s 2024 Rails to Trails Conservancy grant activities.
STEUBENVILLE — The Brooke-Hancock-Jefferson Metropolitan Planning Commission has been awarded grant funds to build a community coalition that will support and comment on active transportation activities in Steubenville and on the Market Street Bridge.
Receiving $15,000, BHJ is one of 41 grantees who have been awarded $421,500 from the Rails to Trails Conservancy, an American nonprofit that advocates for and assists efforts to create a nationwide network of trails adapted from former rail lines. Founded in 1986, the RTC has provided almost $3.4 million in grant funding to more than 250 organizations working toward trail access since 2008.
In a release, the RTC says its grants aid organizations in expediting their own trail network plans, while boosting community-based efforts to connect individuals with trails — an “essential infrastructure” that is reportedly being developed in the “hundreds” nationwide.
“Rails to Trails Conservancy’s Trail Grants program invests in infrastructure and programming necessary to create more access to trails for more people across the country,” the release states. “We believe everyone deserves access to safe spaces where they can walk, bike and be active outside, and trail networks provide those essential elements and have a proven transformative impact on America’s communities.”
Among other projects, the RTC has drawn a preferred route for its Great American Rail-Trail, a proposed trail that spans 3,700 miles across the U.S., from Washington, D.C., to Washington state. It is the first cross-country multi-use trail in the U.S.
Infrastructure to support the trail remains under development, as the RTC works with public and private entities to fill gaps between existing trails on the route. Launched in 2019, the trail is more than 55 percent complete and utilizes more than 150 existing trails, separated by more than 80 gaps.
Following the Panhandle Trail from Washington, Pa., to Weirton, the GART is faced with crossing the Ohio River to the Ohio state line in a section referred to as “Trail Gap 2.” The RTC’s preferred route sought to cross the Market Street Bridge, which has been closed to all vehicular and pedestrian traffic due to structural integrity concerns. Putting the brief West Virginia Route 2 navigation aside, the bridge’s closure has posed a serious issue for the GART’s advancement.
With its grant, BHJ hopes to help determine a path forward for active transportation use at the bridge, which is planned for a full replacement, having been allotted $87.5 million — or half of the total project cost — through the federal Bridge Investment Program.
In a post to social media, BHJ says its money will be used to “build a coalition of community leaders, business interests and residents to support active transportation activities in Steubenville’s Central Business District and support planning activities to rebuild the Market Street Bridge not only for vehicular travel but as an active transportation corridor for pedestrians and bicyclists.”
BHJ has partnered with Washington, D.C.-based ELY Public Affairs, which will lead engagement efforts with local stakeholders. As part of the coalition, those stakeholders will provide public input on the advancement of local trail infrastructure in Steubenville and among its surrounding communities.
“The Market Street Bridge replacement is such an important project for the community, and we are thrilled to join forces with (the BHJ),” ELY Public Affairs Principal Erika Young said in a release. “Our goal is to ensure that, as we move forward with the bridge replacement project, we help guide the conversation to reflect a more fulsome understanding of how the community uses the crossing now and how they want to use it in the future. Through a lot of hard work, Steubenville is evolving, and we want to make sure that its residents’ voices are heard and the trail system reflects the diverse needs of the community.”
BHJ Executive Director Mike Paprocki said the coalition is assembling a planning document in the works.
“It’s one thing for a small group of individuals to say, ‘Isn’t this a great idea?’ But when you get a voice of several hundred people or organizations there that add these public interests, that becomes a bigger voice,” he said.
The coalition will begin with a small contingent of elected officials who want to be involved in the Market Street Bridge’s rebuilding, Paprocki said, but it will expand to members of the public and a core group of supporters. Coalition members will provide input on how Steubenville can further its active transportation accessibility internally and through connections across the river, namely to Weirton and Follansbee.
“We want to get public input from citizens and businesses on how to better promote the Great American Real Trail and active transportation activities in general,” Paprocki said, noting that filling Trail Gap 2 will be a primary focus.
Enthusiasm for the GART has been triggered by a “big boost in eco-tourism” that the BHJ has witnessed in the Steubenville area, Paprocki said. According to the BHJ’s release, between six and 10 cyclists cross the Ohio River weekly, while on the GART and U.S. Bike Route 50, in addition to a number of local cyclists.
The popularity of so-called “bike-packing” is “really exploding,” Paprocki said, with a number of packers passing through and staying in the area. Paprocki said these tourists are a boon for the local economy, supporting small-scale hospitality providers in Weirton in Steubenville.
“We’re a hidden asset, I think,” Paprocki remarked, noting recent examples of bicycle tourists who have shared the positive impression Steubenville has left of them.
Apart from tourism, active transportation infrastructure plays a key role in the daily lives and careers of Ohio Valley locals on both sides of the river, Paprocki said.
The Market Street Bridge served as the only pedestrian-bikeway for residents in Weirton, Follansbee and Steubenville, he said, noting the bridge’s significance for individuals who do not have access to their own personal transportation.
Input from the coalition will feed discussions within Steubenville about improvements to be pursued, Paprocki said, though it could also feed into recommendations made to the West Virginia Department of Transportation’s Division of Highways, which is responsible for the Market Street Bridge’s monitoring and maintenance. Paprocki said the public input will aid in future grant funding pursuits in addition to the Market Street Bridge project.
“There’s going to need to be access to outside resources, so this collection of data and input is how you develop your business case to go after applications through the departments of transportation or whatever other federal or state resources are out there.”
