PennDOT will give 2 grants for pedestrian, biking trails

HERMITAGE, Pa. -- The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation will provide two grants totaling nearly $400,000 for biking and walking trails in the Shenango Valley.
The money is coming from the state Transportation Commission.
The Mercer County Rail/Trail Association is getting $180,000 to help build both a pedestrian and a separate paved bike trail that will start near the old Erie Extension Canal lock off High Street in Sharpsville and follow an old railroad bed past the Shenango Dam and into Hermitage.
The pathways will be called the Trout Island Trail.
The Mercer County Regional Council of Governments was awarded a $210,000 grant to construct some missing sidewalk links and bicycle lanes as well as provide signs designating bike routes.
This is the first phase of development on the project and five Shenango Valley municipalities are participating -- Hermitage, Sharon, Farrell, Sharpsville and Wheatland.
Sharon and Hermitage will get a sidewalk and bicycle lane along Highland Road, while Sharpsville will get a bicycle lane along part of Mercer Avenue.
Farrell and Wheatland will get some signs marking a bicycle route under the project's first phase.