County opens new Range trail in Cross Creek park
Washington County Commission Chairman Larry Maggi walks along South Side Trail at Cross Creek County Park for the first time Wednesday with grandchildren Ava Kolovich, 8, and Carter Scott, 6.
Washington County parks superintendent Kevin Garrison, right, works with Cross Creek County Park supervisor Dan Voight to secure a ribbon before the ceremony opening the South Side Trail at the park Wednesday.
WEST MIDDLETOWN – Although it’s been open since mid-month, county, conservation district and Range Resources Appalachia officials Wednesday cut a red, white and blue ribbon to mark the completion of a 3.2-mile trail the natural gas producer constructed at Cross Creek County Park.
The pathway is on the Route 844 side of the 3,500-acre park, and along that road it makes use of what had been excavated as part of the Markwest pipeline right-of-way.
“We’re repurposing some of those previous disturbances,” said Lisa Cessna, executive director of Washington County Planning Commission, which oversees county parks.
The state requires a 500-foot buffer between lakes the Department of Environmental Protection considers “high-quality watersheds” and new trails or roads, so those walking, biking or horseback riding on the new loop should not expect lakeside panoramas throughout. The steepest part of what is being called the South Side Trail has a 15 percent grade and will be marked as such so pedestrians and bicyclists know a climb is in store. The project has a dirt and gravel surface that shouldn’t wash away as easily as crushed limestone.
So motorists can have easier access to Thompson Hill Road from Route 844, the commissioners last week awarded a $278,976 contract to SET Inc. of Lowellville, Ohio, for road widening.
Range Resources has wells in Cross Creek park that have yielded the county millions of dollars in revenue since they were drilled several years ago.