The Stavich Bike Trail is a

National Recreation Trail The National Trails System is a series of trails in the United States designated "to promote the preservation of, public access to, travel within, and enjoyment and appreciation of the open-air, outdoor areas and historic resources of the Nati ...

located in

Mahoning County, Ohio Mahoning County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 228,614. Its county seat and largest city is Youngstown, Ohio, Youngstown. The county is List of ...

and

Lawrence County, Pennsylvania Lawrence County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 86,070. The county seat is New Castle. Lawrence County comprises the entire New Castle, PA Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is ...

. The rail trail is 9.9 miles long and goes from Lowellville to Union Township in Lawrence County, traveling directly through Lowellville. It was constructed on the former Penn-Ohio Electric System trolley line along the

Mahoning River The Mahoning River is a river located in northeastern Ohio and a small portion of western Pennsylvania. Flowing primarily through several Ohio counties, it crosses the state line into Pennsylvania before joining with the Shenango River to form the ...

in 1983, adjacent to the

CSX CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

New Castle Subdivision tracks. Considered an early example of rail-trails, its 1983 construction was dependent on a donation from the Stavich family, who ran many aluminum mills in the

Youngstown Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio, and the largest city and county seat of Mahoning County. At the 2020 census, Youngstown had a city population of 60,068. It is a principal city of the Youngstown–Warren metropolitan area, which ...

area.

History

Mahoning and Shenango Railway and Light Comp

From the late 19th century through the 1940s, it was very common to find

streetcars A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

and trolleys throughout much of

Western Pennsylvania Western Pennsylvania is a region in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, covering the western third of the state. Pittsburgh is the region's principal city, with a metropolitan area population of about 2.4 million people, and serves as its economic ...

and Eastern Ohio. Originally, many of these streetcar lines were built by numerous companies, but merged into the Mahoning & Shenango Railway and Light System in 1905. The company changed its name to the Penn-Ohio Electric System in 1920. The company provided service through much of the area known as the

Mahoning Valley The Youngstown–Warren–Boardman, OH–PA Metropolitan Statistical Area, typically known as the Mahoning Valley (and historically the Steel Valley), is a metropolitan area in Northeast Ohio and Western Pennsylvania the United States, with t ...

, having both local streetcar lines and

interurban The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 a ...

trolleys. The main line, between New Castle and Youngstown, opened in 1902. Part of that line is now the Stavich Bike Trail. The Penn-Ohio trolley system began its downfall once the rise of the

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...

began, as well as the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. Ridership reportedly fell by 45% between 1930 and 1931. This caused the main line to be converted to buses between 1931 and 1932, the first in the Penn-Ohio system to do so. Subsequently, numerous other interurban trolleys and local streetcars in the Mahoning Valley were converted to buses. The last of which to be converted were the local streetcars in New Castle, which were converted to buses in 1941, forming the Shenango Valley Transportation Company.

Bicycle trail

In 1983, thanks to a donation from the Stavich family, who were a local aluminum tycoon, construction commenced on the nearly 10-mile long trail between the two cities. It opened later that year. Since then, numerous emergency repairs have had to be completed on the trail after intense Spring storms wash parts of the trail away. Additionally, the Lawrence County Department of Planning & Community Development has proposed new trails connecting to Stavich Bike Trail in its 2017 Greenways Plan. One of which includes improving the trail connection from the Stavich Bike Trail to Downtown New Castle. The department's ideal option is to create a separate trail option into the city along Penn Power's right-of-way. It also plans for improvements at the crossing at Covert Road, which was identified as the most dangerous along the trail. Another proposed route continues the trail along the CSX railroad tracks info Mahoningtown, although this is a lower priority to the downtown connection.

References

{{PennsylvaniaRailtrails Bike paths in Ohio Bike paths in Pennsylvania Rail trails in Pennsylvania