BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

http://localhost/mb/topic/routing-recommendations-steubenville-to-westmoreland-county/ has some related discussion. You can get really near the Rte 22 bridge across the Ohio via the Panhandle Trail. But then you have to use the horrible highway to cross. There's another bridge to Steubenville, on Market St I think, but you have to ride on some not great roads to get there.

Thank you! This is extra relevant since I live in, and will be starting from, Westmoreland County (Irwin).

There's also this: http://localhost/mb/topic/heading-west-u-s-40/

Happy to draw you one. Where to start from?

Wow Chris. If you really want, I'll be essentially leaving from the Irwin Target (I live on Pennsylvania Aveneue behind Target). Target 8931Route 30 North Huntington, PA 15642

https://www.strava.com/routes/5334064 Caveats: I haven't ridden all of this. I've ridden a lot of it. It's my best guess, but it's also how I'd route myself. The maps differ. Google and my experience tell me you can get across 51 w/o getting on it. Strava won't let you route that way. Consult a map. There may be a bridge out a Piney Fork around Green Man's tunnel. I think it's passable but ultimately it's on you. There's probably a slightly easier way to get from Montour to Panhandle. I always screw that up myself. Consult a map. Some version of Noblestown Rd will get you most of the way there once you get on Panhandle. If you need advice there let me know. The roads back there are beautiful.

Awesome! I'll review in detail this weekend.

I wasn't clear, sorry. Instead of taking Pandhandle Trail you could take some version of Noblestown Rd. It changes names a couple of times but it's clearly the same road.

The Noblestown/Panhandle stuff is right in @edmonds59's backyard. Paging Bill...

I'd recommend Panhandle Trail to Weirton and then the following route for the Weirton-to-Steubenville part: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/14347032 At its official end, Panhandle Trail becomes overgrown grass, merging into a gravel railroad yard. There may be a gate you need to squeeze through. You can walk your bike across a little-used bridge to get to Main St in Weirton. An alternate route to Main St that trades moderate-traffic two lane roads with 50mph cars for grass and gravel is McColl Rd south briefly, Harmon Creek Rd over the trail and the creek, Cove Rd west. From Main St, you pretend you're a car and bike Route 22 bridge over the Ohio River to Steubenville. There's no sidewalk on that bridge. I think this bridge is safer than biking Route 2 south to the Market St Bridge, as that route involves a longer distance biking on a fast (65mph cars), dangerous highway.

What is the trail from Columbus to Cincinnati?

I suspect the reference is to the Ohio to Erie Trail. Links and interactive map here: http://ohiotoerietrail.org/interactive-map/ (Sure wish the map worked better....but if you click enough, data does appear!)

thanks! Looks like the trail peters out on the westside of Cleveland before it gets to lake erie, but close enough is good enough.

See Google Maps for a more up-to-date picture of the trails in Cleveland. New trail along the Cuyahoga River at the north end of Scranton Rd opened in 2014, and new trail connecting west to Columbus Rd opened in 2015. In a few years, the trail will connect to Wendy Park on Lake Erie. http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2014/08/new_lake_test.html

That's good to know. They now have a trail connecting the Shaker lakes (where I grew up) to University Circle and then Lake Erie, which seems really neat, but getting up the hill (I think it follows Fairhill) is a bitch, I'm sure. but the Cincinnati to Cleveland trail comes too far west to link up with that.