12-15-04
PA Sea Grant Supports Development
of Corridor Management Plan for Seaway Trail
Pennsylvania is creating a corridor management plan to achieve federal designation as a National Scenic Byway for its portion of the Seaway Trail, which follows Route 5 and includes the Bayfront Parkway and the Presque Isle loop. At the same time, the New York and Pennsylvania Seaway Trail Programs are collaborating to obtain designation as an All-American Road. Completing the corridor management plan will make the area eligible to apply for and receive funding to implement the plan.
"We are seeking this federal designation as a way to promote economic development and tourism along the shores of Lake Erie," said David Skellie, coastal land use and economic specialist with Pennsylvania Sea Grant, headquartered at Penn State Behrend. "Designation as a National Scenic Byway and All-American Road will protect the aesthetic, cultural, and natural qualities associated with our portion of the Seaway Trail." Skellie chairs the committee of twenty-four local officials and business persons developing the corridor management plan.
The Seaway Trail extends nearly 500 miles though New York State and Pennsylvania, reaching from the 1,000 Islands region near the Canadian border, along the southern shores of the St. Lawrence River, along the shores of Lake Erie, to the Ohio line. Seaway Trail New York's 454-mile portion of the trail was designated a National Scenic Byway twenty-five years ago to promote tourism and economic development. The effort to designate the Pennsylvania portion of the Seaway Trail as a scenic byway was initiated in 1993 by the Erie Chamber of Commerce, and in 2003 the 43-mile stretch along the shores of Lake Erie was designated a Pennsylvania Scenic Byway.
The National Scenic Byways Program is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration. The program is a grass-roots collaborative effort established to help recognize, preserve and enhance selected roads throughout the United States. Since 1992, the National Scenic Byways Program has provided funding for almost 1500 state and nationally designated byway projects in 48 states. The U.S. Secretary of Transportation recognizes certain roads as All-American Roads or National Scenic Byways or All-American Roads based on one or more archeological, cultural, historic, natural, recreational and scenic qualities.
"I think Pennsylvania has a really good chance of being named one of the seventy-five National Scenic Byways," Skellie said. "We'll join other nationally recognized byways such as White Mountain Trail, Acadia Byway, the Coal Heritage Trail, and Pacific Coast Scenic Highway.
"We're more than halfway through the planning effort for the Pennsylvania portion of the Seaway Trail. We've held several public meetings to gather input, and will be holding additional public meetings to review the draft plan during the week of January 10, 2005," said Skellie.
To achieve the federal designation, the committee has enlisted the services of Peter J. Smith, Inc., a Buffalo, New York, landscape architecture firm specializing in planning parkways and highways. The firm is preparing the draft corridor management plan for review and approval by the committee.
Smith will also be working on New York and Pennsylvania National Scenic Byway and All-American Road applications, which are due to the Federal Highway Administration at the end of February 2005. The Federal Highway Administration will announce its designation decisions in September 2005.
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