Almost 1000 miles of old railroad beds have been successfully changed to public access trails in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Millions of hikers, walkers, cyclists, mountain bikers and rollerbladers use the continually growing number of trails every year.
Many individuals volunteer their time and effort to acquire abandoned railroad property, design a pathway with access to the trail, and arrange construction. Many trails only need a minimum of work since the bridges and occasional tunnels are already in place. Another benefit is the gentle grade that railroad beds were built on. Surface materials range from grass trails to paved blacktop. There are 750 more miles of trails tentatively scheduled to be opened with 100 of that number presently under construction.
The following is a list of trails in Pennsylvania that are done. Also included is the approximate length of the trail and location by county.
Dimeling to Madera Trail - 12 milesClearfield Co.
JFK Walking Trail - 1.5 milesPottsville, PA
Source: PA Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources (http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/railtrails)