GAP Trail History

It’s with great pleasure that we announce the launch of the History of Building the Great Allegheny Passage website.

The 40-year Journey of Building the Great Allegheny Passage was a labor of love for so many. It involved acquiring land and land rights, rebuilding bridges, viaducts and tunnels, and transforming rail-beds into a world-class trail. Its building was complex, employing efforts fueled by passionate individuals, far-sighted government entities, enthusiastic engineering companies and contractors, and dedicated volunteers. Generous foundations and individuals were vital supporters from the beginning – and we thank you all.

On the left, Browneller Bridge was being constructed by a group of volunteers in 1997. A year later, on the right, Campbells Run Bridge construction begins, also with group of volunteers.

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Please enjoy exploring the website and let us know if you have any comments or suggestions, and we can always use more photos! While we tried our best, there’s a chance that we overlooked a story, a person or an organization involved with building the Great Allegheny Passage, please let us know so that we can make the changes, info@GAPhistory.org. 

On the left, you can see the West Newton Station from approximately 2003, and on the right, the Ohiopyle State Park Low Bridge.

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The bonus of archiving this significant historic information on a secure website is that we can continue to add to it as new information emerges, which we’ll most likely be doing for quite a while!

Somerset County ​Trail Dedication Day in 2008.