Transportation Enhancement Funds Support Repair of Big Slackwater Portion of C&O Canal Tow Path and National Historic Park; Part of Smart, Green and Growing Initiative
(January 15, 2010) -- Supporting the preservation of Maryland’s natural and cultural resources, Governor Martin O’Malley has approved $4.4 million in Transportation Enhancement Program (TEP) funding for the National Park Service to reconstruct and stabilize the 3.5 mile historic wall and Towpath of the Big Slackwater portion of the C&O Canal Tow Path in Washington County.
Every year, more than three million visitors travel to the western borders of Maryland to walk, hike and bike the path carved along the C&O Canal, where pioneering individuals transported coal and other needed supplies from 1828 to 1924. Traversing Cumberland, Md. to Georgetown in Washington D.C., the trail currently reroutes hikers, bikers and nature enthusiasts around the Big Slackwater trail portion, which is closed due to damage sustained during Hurricane Agnes in 1976 and years of flooding and erosion. The Big Slackwater closure represents the only break in the otherwise intact 184.5-mile C&O Canal Tow Path, as well as the 335-mile Great Allegheny Passage between Pittsburgh and Georgetown.
“The C&O Canal National Historical Park is Maryland's largest and most-visited national park, and through our partnership with the National Park Service, we will again make the C&O Canal towpath whole,” said Governor O’Malley. “The O’Malley-Brown Administration remains dedicated to the Smart, Green and Growing initiative and our obligation to preserve natural resources and ensure a legacy of conservation, so that future generations may enjoy our State’s bountiful ecological and cultural treasures.”
The $4.4 million TEP funds will be matched by the National Park Service contribution of $12.1 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds. In addition to stabilizing and repairing the existing trail to safely accommodate pedestrian and bicycle traffic, the project will completely replace sections of towpath that have been washed away with new flood and ice-flow resistant concrete structures.
“Repairing the Big Slackwater towpath is our highest priority at the C&O Canal National Historical Park,” said Superintendent Kevin Brandt of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park. "This project will eliminate a hazardous detour, increase visitation and restore the historic relationship between the towpath and the Potomac River. We thank Governor O’Malley for his support.”
“The Washington County Delegation has long championed the Big Slackwater restoration and helped secure funding to provide the first engineering studies for the towpath repairs. Now through the continued, solid partnership between the federal, state and county governments and private organizations, we will have a sustainable Big Slackwater Trail to hand down to generations yet to come,” said Senator Donald F. Munson. “Additionally, the repairs themselves benefit Washington County by creating and maintaining several hundred much needed jobs, and upon completion will bring more than $2 million in direct local economic impact.”
The preservation of the Big Slackwater Trail will also enhance safety. The closure and resulting detour has proven to be unsafe because it diverts visitors, often in large groups, onto a winding, narrow public road with moderate to heavy vehicular traffic, steep grades, curves and hills.
“The repair of this broken section of Maryland’s most-visited National Park is our community coalition’s highest priority. For well over a decade we have been working on fixing what not only is a safety issue, but is also an economic development and tourism issue. We’re very glad that this is moving forward. It has been conservatively estimated that once completed, Washington County will see an additional 60,000 visitors annually, creating more than $2-million in new economic impact. We are thrilled that this priority project is able to finally move ahead,” said Tom Riford, President and CEO of the Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The Big Slackwater Trail project is partially funded through the Transportation Enhancement Program (TEP), which funds non-traditional, community-based transportation-related projects. The Governor determines which projects qualify for funding based on need and potential benefit to the public. The Maryland Department of Transportation’s State Highway Administration oversees the federal program, which has awarded more than $185 million for 232 projects in Maryland since the TEP program began in 1991.
Introduced by Governor Martin O’Malley in October 2008, Maryland’s Smart, Green & Growing initiative was created to strengthen the state’s leadership role in fostering smarter, more sustainable growth and inspiring action among all Marylanders to achieve a more sustainable future. The initiative brings together state agencies, local governments, businesses and citizens to create more livable communities, improve transportation options, reduce the state’s carbon footprint, support resource based industry, invest in green technologies, preserve valuable resource lands and restore the health of the Chesapeake Bay.
# # #