Butler-Freeport trail lands $750,000 grant to shore up cracks in the trail

PennDOT has awarded the Butler-Freeport Community Trail a $750,000 grant to reinforce sections of the trail that have cracked in Buffalo Township.

The 21-mile recreational trail stretches from Freeport to Butler.

“I am happy and elated to receive the grant,” said Chris Ziegler, president of the Butler-Freeport Community Trail council.

She should be.

In the last several years when cracks formed in the trail after severe weather, the trail council had to come up with $80,000 for repairs, she said.

“Now we can be proactive instead of reactive for these trail repairs,” Ziegler said.

“And, importantly, save money for more costly future repairs.”

Heavy rains in recent years have caused erosion of some of the banks of Buffalo Creek, which meanders alongside the trail in Buffalo Township and other trail sections.

Making matters worse, Ziegler and other trail volunteers have discovered that when the railroad corridor was developed, slag and other inappropriate materials were used to build up the rail bed.

The Western Pennsylvania Railroad Co. operated the railroad when it was developed in the late 1800s. The trail is built on the old rail bed.

“Some ‘junk fill’ was used when the railroad came in,” Ziegler said.

When it rains hard and fast, Buffalo Creek swells and the stream banks take a beating, sometimes rocking the foundations of the trail and causing it to split in a couple of sections, she said.

The trail council will work with an engineering company to design ways to reinforce the trail and the bank in the sections that are prone to crack.

“If it’s not fixed, the trail could collapse into the creek and it would cost millions to fix,” Ziegler said.

She thanked the Buffalo Township supervisors and its engineer for securing the money.

The grant was awarded by PennDOT’s Transportation Alternatives Set-Aside, which funds projects for alternative transportation such as on- and off-road pedestrian and bicycles facilities.

Buffalo Township Supervisors Chairman Ron Zampogna Jr. credited the township’s engineer, Ken Howard of Bankson Engineers, for landing the grant and thanked PennDOT.

“The trail is a major asset to the community,” he said.

“It gets a lot of use and brings a lot of people into the community to use our restaurants and stores. The grant will go a long way for the trail’s upkeep.”

Zampogna thanked Ziegler and the trail council, who are volunteers that do the bulk of the work to maintain the trail.

Ziegler is working out the details of the projects. She would like to schedule it this winter when the trail is not heavily used.