Bike Trail

Sen. Christopher B. Shank said this week that he is “extremely concerned” about an idea for a 23-mile bike trail from Hagerstown to Weverton that is being considered by county officials. The Washington County Board of Commissioners agreed Tuesday to reopen talks about building a “Civil War Railroad Trail” that would follow the former Baltimore and Ohio Railroad line from Hagerstown to Weverton. The project was proposed in the early 1990s but abandoned amid widespread opposition from south county residents and other groups.

A Funkstown bypass, an inland port in Martinsburg, W.Va., and a bike trail between Hagerstown and Williamsport are some of the projects a regional group is having studied. Hagerstown and Washington County elected officials, including the commissioners-elect, got an update Tuesday on what projects are being studied for the Hagerstown/Eastern Panhandle Metropolitan Planning Organization. Study results on several of the projects are due back from consultants in February, said Washington County Planning Director Bob Arch.

To appreciate the present, we must remember the past To the editor: It is interesting how times and educational fads change. In a recent column in The Herald-Mail, the writer mentioned a supposedly relatively obscure famous black person - George Washington Carver. In the '50s, I grew up in segregated Cecil County, Md., and read the textbooks that were used by the segregated county and state public school systems. These were textbooks that (even in the course called Problems of Democracy)

“Your articles about the public meeting in Boonsboro are unbelievable, and completely biased toward the proponents. That room was packed full of angry homeowners who were completely opposed to the rail trail. Anyone who went to that meeting knows the truth, no matter how you try to slant it. Your article of June 22 mentioned only one person who was opposed, whereas you included in that article five people who were proponents of the proposal. Where is the truth in your journalism, Herald-Mail?

By BRENDAN KIRBY Staff Writer HANCOCK - Town Councilman Daniel A. Murphy won a convincing victory over the town's former police Chief James. C. McAulay in Monday's mayoral race. Murphy received 318 votes compared to 164 for McAulay, according to Town Manager Louis Close. Darwin Mills and W. Gregory Yost beat out three other candidates to claim the two Town Council seats up for grabs. Murphy, who lives at 212 Maryland Ave., said he believed his victory was an endorsement by voters of several ongoing projects he and other town officials have been working on for several years.

The town of Williamsport and the Washington County Free Library will be able to boost their public services thanks to thousands of dollars in grants awarded this week by the Appalachian Regional Commission. Williamsport was awarded $20,000 to develop bike lanes, and the library was awarded $61,000 to replace 60 obsolete computers, according to a news release from the offices of U.S Sens. Benjamin L. Cardin and Barbara A. Mikulski, both D-Md. The Allegany County Board of Education also received $50,000 from ARC to install broadband Internet.

martinsburg@herald-mail.com MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Some consider the B&O Roundhouse to be the future of Martinsburg. Getting there is another matter, literally. At their meeting Thursday morning, the Berkeley County Commissioners received an inch-thick study prepared by Alpha Associates, an engineering and architectural firm, and Grove and Dall'Olio, an architectural office. The in-depth study, which took around two years to finish, examines everything from parking issues, infrastructure, railroad service and future possibilities - including building a light rail line from the Roundhouse to Eastern Regional Airport.

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle has plenty of busy highways and narrow roads, prompting at least three groups to work for safer paths for bicyclists and pedestrians. [cont. from front page ] The most successful push so far would add a bike path to the expansion of W.Va. 9 between Charles Town and Martinsburg. The West Virginia Division of Highways recently agreed to put a bike path outside the shoulder of the W.Va. 9 expansion, said Ben Hark, head of the environmental section in the division's engineering department.

People with strong opinions for and against a possible 23-mile bike trail packed steamy Boonsboro's fire hall Thursday night. The proposal is in its early, formative stage. Joseph Kroboth III, Washington County's public works director, said there's no local, state or federal money committed to the project, which has been estimated to cost about $16 million. Some at the meeting spoke in favor of the appeal of a new avenue for healthy exercise, and the possible tourism and economic development draw that a trail might have.

Commentary I've always admired the public's ability to create daring stunts out of America's public works projects - stuff such as parachuting off of the New River Gorge bridge, scaling the Empire State Building, or escaping the gravitational pull of Queen Latifah. So when the Great Allegheny Passage bicycle route from Cumberland to Pittsburgh opened this year, it was only a matter of time before people began to push the envelope. The route follows the railroad a good bit of the way, and when an old steam engine operated by the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad chugs through the fall foliage next month, a group of cyclists want to race it. Get in a shootout with a train?

In 2009, the Jefferson County Commission approved a  Shepherdstown Town Council request for $38,000 toward a $76,000 match needed to apply for a grant to build a half-mile biking/hiking path to Morgan's Grove Park. The grant was denied, but Shepherdstown is trying again. The estimated cost of the project is $539,000. The town's share is a 20 percent matching grant of $107,000. Last week, the Jefferson County Commission voted to give the town $75,000 toward the match, leaving the town's share at $32,000, Town Recorder Lori Robertson said.

The Washington County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to stop pursuing a possible 23-mile bike trail. The plan, estimated to cost about $16 million, drew strong protests at a public meeting in Boonsboro last month. Without the county's support, the plan appears likely to die - just as it did when proposed about 20 years ago. “That's the end of it, as far as we're concerned,” said John F. Wilson, the associate director for stewardship within the Maryland Department of Natural Resources' land acquisition and planning unit.

“Your articles about the public meeting in Boonsboro are unbelievable, and completely biased toward the proponents. That room was packed full of angry homeowners who were completely opposed to the rail trail. Anyone who went to that meeting knows the truth, no matter how you try to slant it. Your article of June 22 mentioned only one person who was opposed, whereas you included in that article five people who were proponents of the proposal. Where is the truth in your journalism, Herald-Mail?

People with strong opinions for and against a possible 23-mile bike trail packed steamy Boonsboro's fire hall Thursday night. The proposal is in its early, formative stage. Joseph Kroboth III, Washington County's public works director, said there's no local, state or federal money committed to the project, which has been estimated to cost about $16 million. Some at the meeting spoke in favor of the appeal of a new avenue for healthy exercise, and the possible tourism and economic development draw that a trail might have.

To appreciate the present, we must remember the past To the editor: It is interesting how times and educational fads change. In a recent column in The Herald-Mail, the writer mentioned a supposedly relatively obscure famous black person - George Washington Carver. In the '50s, I grew up in segregated Cecil County, Md., and read the textbooks that were used by the segregated county and state public school systems. These were textbooks that (even in the course called Problems of Democracy)

Sen. Christopher B. Shank said this week that he is “extremely concerned” about an idea for a 23-mile bike trail from Hagerstown to Weverton that is being considered by county officials. The Washington County Board of Commissioners agreed Tuesday to reopen talks about building a “Civil War Railroad Trail” that would follow the former Baltimore and Ohio Railroad line from Hagerstown to Weverton. The project was proposed in the early 1990s but abandoned amid widespread opposition from south county residents and other groups.

The town of Williamsport and the Washington County Free Library will be able to boost their public services thanks to thousands of dollars in grants awarded this week by the Appalachian Regional Commission. Williamsport was awarded $20,000 to develop bike lanes, and the library was awarded $61,000 to replace 60 obsolete computers, according to a news release from the offices of U.S Sens. Benjamin L. Cardin and Barbara A. Mikulski, both D-Md. The Allegany County Board of Education also received $50,000 from ARC to install broadband Internet.

Commentary I've always admired the public's ability to create daring stunts out of America's public works projects - stuff such as parachuting off of the New River Gorge bridge, scaling the Empire State Building, or escaping the gravitational pull of Queen Latifah. So when the Great Allegheny Passage bicycle route from Cumberland to Pittsburgh opened this year, it was only a matter of time before people began to push the envelope. The route follows the railroad a good bit of the way, and when an old steam engine operated by the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad chugs through the fall foliage next month, a group of cyclists want to race it. Get in a shootout with a train?

The Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau has just released a new Bicycle Tours map and brochure for the county. "The hundreds of miles of low-traffic rural roads in the county, almost all excellent for bicycling, have always attracted cyclists. The C&O Canal Towpath and the Western Maryland Rail Trail are also popular destinations, as well as Antietam Battlefield. Several local state parks also have excellent mountain biking, including Greenbrier State Park," the bureau said in a press release.

martinsburg@herald-mail.com MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Some consider the B&O Roundhouse to be the future of Martinsburg. Getting there is another matter, literally. At their meeting Thursday morning, the Berkeley County Commissioners received an inch-thick study prepared by Alpha Associates, an engineering and architectural firm, and Grove and Dall'Olio, an architectural office. The in-depth study, which took around two years to finish, examines everything from parking issues, infrastructure, railroad service and future possibilities - including building a light rail line from the Roundhouse to Eastern Regional Airport.