Sept. 11 Memorial Trail to Shanksville gets boost from land purchase in New Jersey

The 9/11 National Memorial Trail, which will link to the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, has advanced with action in New Jersey.

N.J. Gov. Phil Murphy announced plans to spend $65 million to buy a 9-mile greenway, which will be a segment of the 9/11 Trail.

The trail is a proposed 1,300-mile recreational trail linking the three crash sites in New York City, the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., and Somerset County. Currently, the trail is a patchwork of about 55% off-road trails and 45% existing roads.

In Southwestern Pennsylvania, the trail is expected to spark economic development in communities along the route.

In Garrett, the first section of new, off-road 9/11 trail in Somerset County opened this year. The new 1.5-mile trail is part of a critical segment of the 20-mile trail connecting the Flight 93 memorial to the Great Allegheny Passage trail in Garrett.

Friday’s announcement of the land deal for the New Jersey off-road trail segment, between the Pentagon and New York City crash sites, is significant, said 9/11 Trail President Tom Baxter of Monongahela. Baxter is the former executive director of Friends of the Riverfront.

In addition to its impact locally, this project has national significance as a major New Jersey component of the recently designated 9/11 Memorial Trail.

President Biden signed legislation in October supporting the development of the trail under the auspices of the U.S. Department of the Interior. The nonprofit September 11th National Memorial Trail Alliance will shepherd the trail project and fundraising from grants and nonprofits.

The legislation greenlights the U.S. Department of the Interior to assist in developing the trail route, signage, interpretative guides and educational materials.

The New Jersey land deal took decades of advocacy and outreach and more than three years of direct negotiations, according to the Essex-Hudson Greenway Coalition, whose formation was announced Friday.

The new Essex-Hudson Greenway will span two counties and eight municipalities in one of the most highly populated regions of northern New Jersey. The space will become a park and multiuse trails.