9/11 National Memorial Trail one step closer to being completed

SHANKSVILLE, Pa. (KDKA) — On Monday morning, Western Pennsylvania National Parks Superintendent Stephen Clark made a big announcement.

“I have been so looking forward to this day where I could say that the 9/11 National Memorial Trail alignments, through three of the National Park units in Western Pennsylvania, have been completed.”

The completed alignment now connects the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville to the Johnstown Flood National Memorial and the Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site. And this small portion of the 1,500-mile 9/11 Memorial Trail ultimately connects the Flight 93 Memorial to the other Sept. 11 sites in New York and Virginia.

The National Park Service says that connecting all these state and federal lands into one trail system wouldn’t be possible without the work of the nonprofit group the September 11th National Memorial Trail Alliance.

Two alliance members from Pittsburgh, Daniel Wille and Matt Harris, were on hand on Monday to not only hear the official announcement but to ride a portion of the trail.

Wille says that he hopes this trail will help bring a divided country back together.

“This trail is a remembrance,” said Wille. “It’s a connectivity, and an attempt to provide a positive view of America that I feel we are losing. And I feel it gives us hope. It gives us all hope that as this thing develops, Americans will kind of find their place again and their strength.”

The 9/11 Memorial Trail is still a work in progress, but at least this on and off-road section is open for folks to explore and remember the victims and the heroes of 9/11.