Bike Around the County Ride
County Executive Kathy Dahlkemper sponsors a ride each year to explore Erie County and encourage trail-building and explore the benefits of trail. On Friday, September 15, several local residents, county and state officials, employees and other riders rode alongside Dahlkemper on this explorative journey and all for a good cause.
Riders made a stop at The East Branch Trail extension project between Corry and Spartansburg, which is currently a gap along the Erie to Pittsburgh Trail that partners in the Industrial Heartland Trails Coalition has been making ongoing efforts to fill with more trail. This included a stop at a railroad crossing which revealed the Black Bridge. Deb Frawley, a Program Coordinator of Trails and Recreation with the Pennsylvania Environmental Council gave riders a little backstory on the gap and also explained the project that will include a rail-with-trail segment, and infrastructure issues such as obtaining the Black Bridge, a former railroad bridge, for trail usage.
The ultimate goal of this ride was to bring attention to the benefits of trails in the region, and the Erie to Pittsburgh Trail.
See more coverage on the ride here.