The Montour Trail's Mile Zero Finally Has a Front Door on Montour Street

At the bottom of Montour Street in Coraopolis, a 190-foot concrete land bridge now carries a trail over the slope near 4th Avenue and down into the old rail yard. From there it runs 0.8 miles through the Montour Junction property to mile marker 0.0 of the Montour Trail. The Montour Trail Council's May–June 2026 TrailLetter reports that its contractor finished the connector on March 25. The council calls it Phase 30 and describes it as the most difficult project it has taken on.

The trail has started beside Coraopolis for as long as it has existed. Getting to it from town, though, used to mean driving. Now the trail starts on a Coraopolis street.

Mile zero was always next door

The Montour Junction is a 78-acre property between the trail's mile zero and Coraopolis. It was once the Montour Railroad's maintenance yard and offices. Today it holds the Montour Trail, a soccer complex built by the Riverhounds, and an Allegheny Health Network medical facility. The trail itself follows the old Montour Railroad right-of-way, and the trail council says most of it is crushed limestone.

For most of the trail's history, the official way in at mile zero was a lot off Montour-Coketown Road, on the Moon Township side. The council lists 15 parking spaces at the MM 0.0 lot and 15 more at an extended lot at MM 0.2. That's 30 spaces in total at the head of a trail the council has been building since 1989.

The connector changes how Coraopolis reaches mile zero. A rider on 5th Avenue or a walker near Mill Street can now get onto the trail without moving a car and without competing for one of those 30 spaces.

Why 0.8 miles took 35 years

In the council's May–June 2026 TrailLetter, Dennis Pfeiffer, president of the council's Airport Area Friends Group, wrote that he and Dave Wright, an Allegheny County right-of-way expert and longtime council volunteer, had been planning the Coraopolis Connector for 35 years. He wrote that the short path "looks like it would be a simplistic project." Ownership was the hard part. According to the TrailLetter, the land passed through this sequence of owners and agreements:

1. 1991. Allegheny County bought 38 miles of the Montour Railroad right-of-way from the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad. The purchase left out the Montour Junction property and the first 7.3 miles of the right-of-way.
2. Late 1990s. A contractor took an option on both pieces and renewed it month to month for about seven months before dropping it.
3. October 2000. The council used a $200,000 loan from the Allegheny Trail Alliance, owners of the Great Allegheny Passage, to buy the first 7.3 miles. The junction parcel was still listed at more than $1 million, and the trail only needed a 20-foot easement through it.
4. 2002–2011. The nonprofit Sports Legacy Foundation bought the junction for sports fields, later partnered with the Redevelopment Authority of Allegheny County, and donated the property to the authority in 2011.
5. 2016. The council signed a 25-year license with the authority for a 20-foot easement from mile zero to Montour Street. It also got an easement from Duquesne Light for a small piece under the Coraopolis bridge and a slope easement from a 4th Avenue property owner for the land bridge.
6. 2019. Tuffy Shallenberger of Shallenberger Construction bought the property to build soccer fields and the AHN Montour Sports Complex. The trail easement carried over to the new owners.

State environmental approvals for building in a floodway and floodplain also made the project harder, and the council said a later TrailLetter article would cover that process.

Thirty spaces versus 220 cars

The parking numbers explain why a walking route matters. Each September the council holds Tour the Montour at mile zero, and Pfeiffer wrote that it parks more than 220 cars on the Montour Junction property. Over the years, he and Wright got permission for that parking from the last three owners. He wrote that holding the Tour "would have been extremely difficult without the owners' continued cooperation."

So a busy day at mile zero depends on private land to absorb the cars. The 2026 Tour, the 24th annual Gateway Engineers Tour the Montour, was held Saturday, September 12. It started at mile zero, with parking at the AHN Montour Sports Complex. The council's September–October 2026 TrailLetter reports that more than 350 cyclists rode.

Anyone in Coraopolis who rides next year's Tour can reach the start line from Montour Street on 0.8 miles of trail. The same applies on any ordinary Saturday when the 30 official spaces are full.

How far the trail goes from Montour Street

The council lists official access points by mile marker. Adding the 0.8-mile connector gives the approximate distance from the Montour Street end in town:

The trailheads page also lists Enlow at MM 7.8 as the junction for the Airport Connector, which it describes as a roughly six-mile mix of trail and road leading to the airport parking lot. Counting from a Coraopolis street, a ride to Pittsburgh International now starts on 0.8 miles of new trail and doesn't need a drive to a trailhead.

The council's sources don't give a surface specification for the connector itself. If you ride narrow tires, check it before your first trip.

The fall calendar built around mile zero

Spring completion gave the council a whole season to mark the opening. Since late summer, its own pages have filled up with mile-zero events:

• Saturday, September 12. Tour the Montour started at mile zero, with more than 350 riders reported.
• Saturday, September 19, 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. The council scheduled the Coraopolis Connector grand opening at the MM 0.0 trailhead, with a short ceremony and ribbon cutting. Listed speakers included Randon Willard, executive director of the Coraopolis Community Development Corporation; David Wright, the connector's project manager; Tom Prezel; state Rep. Anita Kulik; U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio; and state Sen. Devlin Robinson. In its May–June issue, the council had said it was aiming for August.
• November 8, 5:00 to 8:30 p.m. The council's annual meeting and dinner includes a social hour, dinner and program.

The Coraopolis Community Development Corporation is on the grand opening's speaker list. Its 20-year campaign lists downtown marketing and business coordination among its goals, alongside finishing the train station. With the trail now reaching Montour Street, those downtown goals sit 0.8 miles from mile zero.

From mile zero back into town

On the way back, the connector puts you out at Montour Street, a few blocks from the 5th Avenue business strip. The borough's business directory lists Coraopolis Bicycle Shop at 938 5th Ave. and Cobblehaus Brewing Co. at 1021 5th Ave. The same directory lists Anthony Jr's Pizzeria at 1024 5th Ave., Tootsie's Diner at 701 5th Ave., The Pizzeria at 1225 4th Ave., and 180 and Tapped at 2010A State Ave. The directory page is dated 2024, so confirm hours before you plan a ride around a stop.

A short loop from town now works like this: start at the Montour Street land bridge, ride 0.8 miles to mile zero, continue to Hassam Road at 2.2 miles from town, then turn around and finish on 5th Avenue. That's about 4.4 miles out and back without touching a car.

When a trailhead opens a few blocks from your house, a listing description should mention it, and a buyer should be able to measure it. If you're thinking about selling a home in Coraopolis and want to know how being near the new connector compares with nearby recent sales, LaRocca Real Estate Team can walk the route with you and prepare a complimentary home valuation based on what's within reach of your front door.