NEARING COMPLETION — This sign, located at the main trail station for the Panhandle Rail Trail, warns of crews working on the trail. The Weirton Board of Parks and Recreation has announced the final stretch of paving on the trail is beginning this week. -- Craig Howell

WEIRTON — The final phase of paving for the Panhandle Recreation Trail is underway.

According to Weirton Parks officials, paving of the final stretch of the trail began Monday, completing the installation of an asphalt surface on the 4.1-mile length of the West Virginia portion of the rail trail.

“Public Works will start on the Walnut Street end,” Parks Director Coty Shingle explained during last week’s meeting of the Weirton Board of Parks and Recreation.

From the trail’s westernmost terminus located parallel to Walnut Street in Weirton, crews with the Weirton Public Works Department will work their way backward to the main trail parking lot situated just off the Harmon Creek/Cove Road exit from U.S. 22, then continuing east until meeting the point where paving previously was done.

Crews from Starvaggi Industries have assisted by grading the trail area to prepare it for paving, according to Shingle.

“This effort is another fine example of teamwork in the City of Weirton,” Shingle said. “A lot of hard work has gone into this project encompassing multiple departments of the city and financial contributions from the city, state, county and federal governments as well as private charitable funds.”

Once completed, the entire project will have had a cost of more than $300,000, with contributing funds including a portion of the City of Weirton’s American Rescue Plan Act allotment, a West Virginia Department of Highways TAP Grant, grants from the J.C. Williams and Mary Jane Brooks foundations, as well as contributions from the Hancock and Brooke county commissions and from the Weirton Park Board itself.

The TAP grant was approved in 2018, with the first phase of paving completed in the fall of 2023. A second round of paving took place one year later, taking the paving to more than the half-way point of the trail.

The final portion of paving will be just under two miles, according to Shingle.

“We realize this has been a pretty long journey. We applaud the patience of the public and they’ve had to bear with us through a process that began with grant writing efforts way back in 2016 and was slowed by an international pandemic over a period of a couple years,” Shingle said. “The Panhandle Trail has been a work in progress for all of that time and the leadership of each entity involved from the federal level down to the municipal level has been willing to make historically significant accommodations to see this project through to completion, which is a testament to their understanding of how important this recreation facility is to, not just the City of Weirton, but the entire Tri-State Area.”

Shingle also offered his thanks to members of the Weirton Rail Trail Committee, whose members volunteer their time and equipment to maintain the trail, as well as assisting in grant writing, administrative work and promoting the trail.

The trail is part of the West Virginia and U.S. Federal Rails to Trails program, and is secured by a 99-year lease held by the City of Weirton through the Park Board. It connects with trails in Washington County, Pennsylvania, and is a connector of U.S. Bike Route 50, the Great American Trail and the Industrial Heartland Trail.