The 9/11 Memorial Trail Is Getting Closer to the GAP
A critical 1,500-foot segment of the September 11th National Memorial Trail connecting the Great Allegheny Passage to the Flight 93 National Memorial is now underway in Somerset County. The 1,500-mile trail links all three 9/11 sites - and our corner of Pennsylvania is the key connection.
Somerset County sits at the heart of something significant, and progress – slow as it sometimes is – is being made.
A critical 1,500-foot segment of the September 11th National Memorial Trail, connecting the Great Allegheny Passage to the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, is now underway in Somerset County. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported the update this week, noting that while progress is incremental, this stretch represents a meaningful step toward completing one of the most ambitious trail projects in the country.
The September 11th National Memorial Trail is a 1,500-mile multi-use route linking all three sites of the September 11, 2001 attacks – the National September 11 Memorial in New York City, the Pentagon Memorial in Arlington, and the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville. With 52 percent of it off-road, the trail runs through the heart of the Mid-Atlantic, and the GAP – which passes through Garrett, Pennsylvania, just up the mountain from Confluence – is integral to the route.
The connection makes geographic sense. The C&O Canal carries riders from Washington, DC to Cumberland, Maryland, where the GAP picks up and heads northeast through Somerset County on its way to Pittsburgh. The first purpose-built segment split from the GAP at the Garrett trailhead in 2021, and the Alliance has been working since to close the remaining gaps between Garrett and Shanksville – a route that passes through Berlin, Pennsylvania, along a former railroad corridor that CSX donated a decade ago.
The 9/11 Memorial Trail Alliance wants to build as many off-road trail segments as feasible, for safety, economic development, and long-term usability. Governor Shapiro has directed PennDOT and DCNR to work with local governments to install nearly 750 wayfinding signs across 25 counties and 129 municipalities ahead of the 25th anniversary of September 11, 2026.
For the Laurel Highlands, this is another thread in a growing trail story. The GAP connects this region to Pittsburgh and Washington. The Mon Forest Towns gravel network branches south from Confluence toward West Virginia. The Ohiopyle mountain bike system is expanding. And now the trail that honors the heroes of September 11 runs through our own Somerset County, getting closer to completion one foot at a time.
More at 911trail.org.