SBU Loop of Recreation Trail Opens

Community and university leaders integral to the project gathered Tuesday morning to dedicate the completion of the St. Bonaventure loop of the Allegheny River Valley Trail.

Calling the trail addition a “wonderful milestone in our relationship with Allegany and Olean,” Brenda McGee, senior vice president for finance and administration at SBU, thanked Allegany and county officials and project consultants, and concluded with a “special thanks to Phil Winger, who expertly managed this complex project.”

Winger is the associate vice president for facilities at the university.

The roughly three-quarter-mile addition was completed earlier this month — six years after U.S. Senators Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton helped secure federal funding for the trail expansion and campus road improvements. Federal and state roadblocks slowed distribution of the money until this year; project work finally began in April.

University President Sr. Margaret Carney, O.S.F., expressed her gratitude to Schumer and Clinton, who personally presented the symbolic check to Sr. Margaret when Clinton, now Secretary of State, was visiting Jamestown Community College.

The $2.5 million project included:

• a warming hut featuring restroom facilities for students and recreation trail users (expected to be completed by December).
• the straightening of Clare Road, which runs through the woods between Francis Hall on the east side of campus to the five-way intersection just east of Doyle Hall.
• reworking of the parking lot and five-way intersection near Doyle Hall.
• a new access road near the center of campus at the Reilly Center.
• repaving and road restoration at various locations around campus.

Also on hand was Joe Higgins, “the father of the rec trail,” Sr. Margaret said. She presented him one of the university’s 150th Anniversary Medals for his contribution to the community. Completed in 1999, the recreation trail was the brainchild of Higgins, who spoke briefly and thanked the owners of the land through which the trail runs.

“The trail isn’t owned by anyone,” Higgins said. “It succeeds because of an intermunicipal agreement with Olean, Allegany and St. Bonaventure.”

About 2.5 miles of the trail — including the new addition, which runs parallel to West State Road and then south next to Francis Road and behind Francis Hall, connecting to the existing trail near the river — is now on St. Bonaventure property. With the addition, the entire trail is roughly 6.3 miles long.

“It’s really exciting to see people using the completed loop,” Sr. Margaret said.

Fr. Francis Di Spigno, O.F.M, executive director of University Ministries, blessed the trail with holy water before officials cut the ribbon to open the trail.

Pictured, (from left) Joseph Higgins, trail founder and chair of the trail committee; SBU Trustee Timothy Finan; Allegany Town Supervisor Pat Eaton; Brenda McGee, senior vice president for finance and administration at SBU; Sr. Margaret Carney, O.S.F., University president; William Fox, engineer with Cattaraugus County; Wendy Brand, trail committee member and representative of state Assemblyman Joseph Giglio; Phil Winger, associate vice president for facilities at SBU; and Fr. Francis Di Spigno, O.F.M., executive director of University Ministries.
Courtesy of St. Bonaventure University