Economic Development along the C&O Towpath

Introduction

When I learned about the Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O) Towpath and the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) several years ago I put it on my bucket list of things to do. The C&O and GAP is an approximately 330 mile long bike path that connects Washington DC and Pittsburgh. Like the Appalachian Trail, This corridor is exclusively non-motorized and attracts many bikers and hikers. The history of both segments is fascinating, particularly the Towpath. The Towpath is an old lock and canal system designed to raise boats (akin to the Panama Canal) and is approximately 184 miles long. It’s called the Towpath because mules towed the boats up and down the canal segments. The GAP is approx 146 miles long and predominantly consists of the remaining right of way of the abandoned Western Maryland rail line. To learn more about the Towpath and GAP, I highly recommend buying the trail guide published by the Great Allegheny Passage Conservancy (Gaptrail.Org). The book contains some good history of the origin of the trails and details on traveling between the small towns.

This past September I took it upon myself to get on my bike and do the whole 330 plus miles. My only remaining choice was to pick uphill or downhill. Do I start in Pittsburgh and go downhill most of the way, or do I start in Washington DC and go uphill for about 200 miles? Most bikers choose to start in Pittsburgh, since once you do the relatively short ascent to Pittsburgh, it is downhill all the way to DC. Always up for a challenge, and to make a personal goal to ascend metaphorically, I decided to start in Washington DC and head Northwest to the Continental Divide, a 2,390 foot ascent (on my ride I encountered 50-60 bikers headed south and three going north. I soon learned why everybody else was headed south). The next decision was how do I get myself and my bike to the DC trailhead in Georgetown.

C&O Aqueduct

Canal lock #20 and the Great Falls Tavern Visitors Center

The task

My task was to transverse the entirety of both trails, solo by bicycle and make note of how the trail is used, how it impacts the economy of the small towns it goes through, and how it feeds other alternative modes.

What is an alternate travel mode?

For the purposes of this article I am defining an Alternative travel mode as any mode of travel that serves as an alternative to the single occupant vehicle. This can include all forms of ridesharing such as carpooling or vanpooling, as well as public transit, bicycling or walking Alternate travel modes used for this expedition included Uber, Airplane, Bicycle, and Shuttle. And indirectly UPS – facilitated my use of my bicycle as a mode by transporting my bicycle to the start of the corridor.

Economic Impact

When I was planning my trip I spoke to my local bike shop proprietor here in Jacksonville, Florida and he called what I intend to do as “ credit card touring”. I really didn’t understand what he meant until I got on the trail for several days. During that time my credit card was used even more than I planned. There was of course lodging, tourist based activities and restaurants. But there was also bicycle repair, shuttle service, and a new phone to boot. Of course in this situation you can’t shop for a good price and you can’t use Amazon. You just have to pay whatever the price is. And there you have it, credit card touring. There were many examples along the entire corridor that Illustrated how much money is going north and south along the path.

Example 1: Connellsville, PA

The Connellsville Comfort Inn located at 325 N 1st street in Connellsville, PA is immediately adjacent to the GAP and is tailored to the needs of bikers. The first floor has a very large walk-in closet for bikes (including bikes rented by a hotel vendor), there is a wash station for bikes at the main entrance since the GAP trail is mostly unpaved (since it rained the whole trip my bike and I were both covered in mud). I noted that the continental breakfast in the morning was packed with people dressed for biking.

The hotel is built on one acre. The Fayette County property appraiser does not list construction date but judging by the interior, the building is either brand new or recently renovated. Using windows as a basis, the hotel appears to have 55-60 rooms.

Immediately adjacent to the Comfort Inn is a new development under construction by the same owner and is designed to have a restaurant and a retail space. I noted that these two buildings appear to be the only new construction on either side of the Youghiogheny River. I presume there was an acceptable proforma that justified these new commercial buildings. Creating a lodging facility large enough to attract a branded hotel is also impressive. All thanks to this bicycle corridor. The city of Connellsville also has other businesses catering to bikers such as the “Kickstand Kitchen” and Bikes Unlimited.

New branded hotel and commercial addition at GAP trail (Connellsville)

Example 2: Harpers Ferry, WV

Harpers Ferry, West Virginia has a unique situation where the C&O Towpath and the Appalachian Trail converge immediately adjacent to the town. I spoke to the proprietor at the town’s inn and was told that 60 to 70% of their lodgings come from either bikers from the C&O Towpath or hikers from the Appalachian Trail. While eating dinner in Harpers Ferry across the street from my lodging, I noted that most of the people in the outdoor dining area appeared to be bikers. Illustrating the level of importance of the C&O to Harpers Ferry, some visitors to the town will park their cars in Brunswick, a 6 mile bike/hike on the trail, rather than attempt to park at Harpers Ferry during special events (when parking is difficult).

Shop at Harpers Ferry, WV

Example 3: Hancock, Maryland

I stayed at an Airbnb in Hancock, Maryland which is immediately adjacent to the C&O towpath. It was very clear that this Airbnb had been developed specifically for bikers. The B&B had multiple rooms with a shared kitchen and bathroom. The facility also boasted a free parking area for bikes in a separate building immediately adjacent to the trail. This Airbnb was an adaptive reuse of a historic building. but rather than restoring the original residential and retail, the building had been converted into an Airbnb specifically tailored to bikers. It was clear that a substantial investment had been made in this building to accommodate people traveling on the trail. That evening I ate at a restaurant within walking distance and my waitress informed me that 60 to 70% of the restaurant’s business is feeding bikers from the trail. Business is good except in the winter months when she says they fight for tables. I am sure this is the case as nobody wants to ride a bike on an unpaved surface covered with snow and ice.

GAP wayfinding in Cumberland, MD

Conclusion

Economic Impact of the GAP and C&O

“The most recent economic study of the Great Allegheny Passage, done in 2021 by the Great Allegheny Passage Conservancy, estimated that the total economic impact of the GAP was $121 million in 2019 – direct, indirect and induced dollars” (tribdem.com). This Tribune Democrat article from September 21, 2024, also references a “ report show[ing] roughly $800,000 in annual economic impact per mile of the Great Allegheny Passage, supporting 1,393 jobs. The average spending by day users is $90, and overnight users spend nearly $500 per trip, the report says.”

During my week traversing the entirety of the 330-mile corridor, I stayed at 5 Airbnbs and 1 branded hotel. I purchased meals and supplies for all those days in 12 different cities. I also purchased a new cell phone in Cumberland as my cell phone gave up the ghost around mile 50 of the C&O. Needless to say I greatly exceeded the $500 per trip as reported above. Except for DC and Pittsburgh, all of the cities I visited were small cities ranging in population from 300 (Harpers Ferry) and 700 (Confluence) to 19,000 (Cumberland). It’s safe to assume that the smaller the city, the greater the economic impact, and the greater the reliance of the small businesses of those cities on the corridor. In the most extreme example, there is not even a city, just a defunct ferry connection whose only restaurant is able to stay in business thanks to the C&O:

“White’s Ferry, originally Conrad’s Ferry, is an inactive cable ferry service that carried cars, bicycles, and pedestrians across the Potomac River between Loudoun County, Virginia and Montgomery County, Maryland, and is the last one of its kind to cross the Potomac. The location offered fishing services and water recreation including canoeing. It transported between 600 and 800 customers daily until its operations were suspended indefinitely in 2020 due to a legal dispute over the land surrounding it.” Wikipedia

GAP trail crossing the Mason Dixon Line

Author at the Pennsylvania/Maryland Border (M&D Line)

Comfort and Safety Encourage Alternative Mode Usage

Effective Transportation models not only use physical infrastructure as an input , they also use perceived comfort and safety to determine if a trip will use that mode. Although the volume of trips on the C&O Towpath and the GAP are impressive, I believe it’s just scratching the surface of the potential ridership of the corridor. The Economic impact of the corridor is tremendous. However, it could be even greater by expanding perceived comfort and safety. If the paths were perceived to be safer and the conditions more predictable then more locals might use the corridor to commute from town to town, and perhaps even take the family on a leisure trip to have lunch in another town.

Safety could be increased by having improved directional signage and a better maintained surface. For new users there are several hazards, the greatest of which is the lack of potable water along a vast majority of the trail. Signage that advises distance to the next potable water stop along the trail, such as exists just north of Connellsville, would be an improvement. The surface is poor and can go from a loose pea gravel surface to one covered in fist size granite rocks that are the same color as the trail. Most significantly and surprisingly, there is no indication on any trail map that you cannot travel on the trestle bridge to Harpers Ferry without lifting your bike and all of its gear on a significant spiral staircase up to the bridge. It’s certainly doable if you have the youth and athletic ability to continue, but if you don’t, you will have to make other plans to get to your food and lodging. Updating the app and maps to show stairs as well as closures and would be an easy and beneficial enhancement.

Other Travel Modes

Addition to bicycle as a mode of travel, I also integrated other modes such as shuttle/limo service. There is a shuttle/limo service in Ohiopyle, PA that takes you to Frank Loyd Wright’s Fallingwater. There is parking for vehicles at Fallingwater, but there is no parking for bicycles. Presumably the management does not want to encourage the rather dangerous ride from Ohiopyle to the Fallingwater exhibit since there is no trail and the road that ascends to the exhibit has no bike lane. The van shuttle ride from the tour company has bicycle parking and you simply buy a ticket and get on the van with other bikers that wish to see the Fallingwater exhibit. Other modes of travel complement each other. The tour company also offers a river raft, where you can leave your bike and go down the river on a raft, although I don’t think that necessarily counts as a mode of travel.

Shuttle from Ohiopyle to Falling Water

There is an Amtrak train that goes from my hometown of Jacksonville, Florida to Washington DC. The Amtrak train service allows you to roll your bike onto the train fully assembled and roll it off when you reach your destination. Pretty neat since you would be ready to go when you arrived at your destination, though the negative side of this is that the trip is 16 hours long from Jacksonville. The bike ride from the Amtrak station to the C&O trailhead is quite scenic as it takes you by the Capitol Building, through the mall and to the Lincoln Memorial.

Frank Lyold Wright’s Fallingwater

Rather than endure a 16-hour Amtrak ride, I elected to fly and have my bike shipped via UPS to a bike shop in Georgetown to be assembled. I used Uber to get from the airport to the bike shop. I am not sure if UPS counts as a mode of transportation since there was no in-person trip involved, however, UPS facilitated my use of bike mode and without it I would have been forced to rent a bike for a one-way trip, which is a challenging service to find (or rent a car).

Following my theme of comfort and safety, using UPS greatly increased the comfort and safety of my bike mode as I was able to use my personal bike and it could be sent to any bike shop to be assembled, which was a convenient option. All of these alternate modes work together on the GAP and C&O to encourage all types of activities, even white water rafting.

On a More Personal Note

There is value to this corridor that can’t be measured by dollars and cents, and may be even more valuable than the economic impact, and that’s the positive impact it has on our mental and physical well being. Being out on the corridor for so long alone allowed me a lot of self reflection that was enhanced by the great amount of physical effort and the beautiful environment I was surrounded by.

Somewhere between Cumberland and Connersville I was hit by a powerful thunderstorm, with the rain and wind blowing down and releasing the golden and red leaves above me. In a fruitless attempt to outrun the storm, I pedaled faster through a wet spinning tunnel of red and yellow with the sound of the tires crushing the leaves. This and many other experiences made me thankful for the visionaries of the 1970s that conceived of this corridor as a recreational facility and turned an abandoned railroad and an abandoned mule tow path into a preserved priceless piece of American history for generations to come.

Link to geocoded photos: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1VQV4DuRUiKn1ZEOq1X3uRf9NrAtV9eE&usp=sharing