Great Allegheny Passage (GAP)

The Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) is a rail trail connecting Cumberland, Maryland, with Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Most of the trail was built on the abandoned grades of the Western Maryland Railway through Connellsville, then on the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad on to Pittsburgh.

The lines were abandoned since 1975, and the first 9-mile (14 km) section of the rail trail opened near Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania, in 1866. In June 2013, thirty-five years after construction first began, the final section was completed from West Homestead to Pittsburgh at an overall cost of $80 million.

The multi-use trail is suitable for biking and hiking, but you’ll find that long-distance bikers far outnumber the long-distance hikers. This is a biking trail, first and foremost. But fortunately, still open to us on foot! The GAP is also a segment of the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail.

The trail’s formal name, the Great Allegheny Passage, was selected in 2001 by the Allegheny Trail Alliance (ATA) “after six years and more than 100 proposals” as “a name evocative of the geography and historical heritage” of the trail.

Virtually, the GAP is essentially an extension of the C&O Canal which runs from Washington, DC, to Cumberland, MD. The GAP seamlessly picks up where the C&O Canal ends.