CLARION CO., Pa. (EYT) — Little Ben Sheckell was the first to cross the line after the cutting of the ribbon opening the newly paved stretch of the Rail 66 Country Trail on Friday afternoon.

Representative Donna Oberlander and Clarion County Commissioners Wayne Brosius and Ed Heasley were also in attendance at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The Rail 66 Country Trail, which follows the historic Knox-Kane railroad bed, currently stretches over fifteen miles through the northern part of Clarion County. The trail is an all-season trail for the use of hikers, bikers, and other non-motorized forms of conveyance.

The most recent paving project for trail sections beginning at U.S. 322 in Shippenville and extending north to Leeper was completed this month, and Friday’s ceremony marked the official opening of the newly paved sections of the trail.

“We’ve come a long way in five years,” said Rail 66 Association President Vince DiStefano.

“Some of the people that helped us is our membership list, and our volunteers have done a tremendous amount of work, so thank them. And I’d like to thank the County Commissioners for their cooperation. Paint Township has been incredible. Interstate Amesite put 51 tons of blacktop on this trail…it took 230 truckloads to pave this trail. They did a terrific job and I want to thank them, though unfortunately, they can’t be here today.”

“Hager Paving has been a big part of this, and we want to thank them. Ron Nick Excavating really helped us a lot, and there’s probably a whole lot more folks with lots of input that really did help,” DiStefano continued.

The Rail 66 County Trail Organization was first formed by a group of local residents who leased 4.3 miles from the Kovalchick Corporation and made improvements to the tract of land, including a paved surface.

The railbed was formerly the property of the Knox-Kane Railroad, which began operations after it acquired the right-of-way from the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1982. The railroad was primarily used to provide service between Knox in Clarion County and Kane and Mt. Jewett in McKean County. Along with the transportation of freight such as coal, the Knox-Kane Railroad had a tourist operation from Marienville through Kane across the Viaduct at Kinzua Bridge State Park.

As freight deliveries in the region decreased, the tourism market became more important to the rail line, but even that couldn’t survive after a major section of the Kinzua Viaduct was toppled by a tornado in 2003. The company attempted to continue the tourist train, but it finally ceased operations in 2006 due to lack of ridership. The trail corridor has since been railbanked for interim trail use.

In 2010, the Knox Kane project was launched with the development of a Feasibility Study funded by the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. The purpose of the study was to determine a roadmap for the development of the Knox Kane corridor based on public input.

An additional benefit is the preservation Knox and Kane Railroad corridor itself. The entire 73.8-mile section is approved by the Surface Transportation Board for railbanking, a voluntary agreement between a railroad company and an organization to use an out-of-service rail corridor as a trail until a railroad might need the corridor again for rail service. the U.S. Congress amended the National Trails System Act to create the railbanking program in 1983, as concerns were rising about the rapid loss of America’s rail network.

Railbanking can preserve lines that might otherwise be abandoned through interim conversion to trail use. While some railroad rights-of-way contain easements that revert back to landowners adjacent to the rail lines when abandonment is consummated, if a line is railbanked, the corridor is treated as if it had not been abandoned. This allows the integrity of the corridor to be maintained and prevents reversions that could break it up.