Greenway Alliances
Greenways are linear corridors of public and private land that serve as the linkages between specifically identified natural resource-based or manmade features. They can be either land or water based and serve a variety of functions and benefits including recreation, transportation, community revitalization and economic development, natural resource conservation, environmental protection, wildlife habitat and migration and education. These corridors often follow old railways, canals, ridge tops, rivers and stream valleys. A trail alliance is an agreement or friendship between two or more trail interest groups, made in order to advance common goals and secure common interests to interconnect Greenway corridors through cohesive efforts forming a Mega-greenway that is 100+ miles in length in a multicounty or multistate region.
The Ohio River Trail Council (ORTC) proposes a broad vision of a multi-use land trail, land & water trail system the Ohio River Trail (ORT), along the “La Belle Riviere” or the Ohio River and its tributaries in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. An alliance is proposed with organizations from these three states to develop and implement this vision.
The proposed Tri-State Alliance will allow for the construction of three (3) trail loops one of which is a “Century Trail” (100 mile loop) in this tri-state region, using the Ohio River Trail beginning at the Point of Beginning, Montour Trail, Panhandle Trail, and the proposed trails along the Ohio River in West Virginia and Ohio from Weirton, WV to Chester WV via Tomlinson State Park, and/or East Liverpool, OH and returning to the Point of Beginning.
The Ohio River Trail Council is in support of three proposed alliances to achieve these initiatives.
1. Tri-state Alliance Century Trails
2. Tri-state Alliance Great Lakes to Washington D.C. Trail
3. Ohio River Mega-Greenway Alliance
One of the major outcomes of the alliance will be to foster further recreation and cultural-based economic development within the local communities and the tri-state region, capitalizing on the synergy of ecotourism and the potential development of a larger recreation and parks system as a way to reposition all the evolved communities for the 21st century business and lifestyle needs.
 Rails-to-Trails Pittsburgh to Cleveland | [ ] | 5869 Kb |