(Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection - Letter to the Editor)

Completing the bicycling and walking trails offers a unique opportunity to add jobs and grow the economy of the MOV. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ mission is “to deliver vital public and military engineering services to energize the economy,” including “civil works: planning, designing and building …”

Why spend tens of thousands of local tax dollars to cross Pond Run extending the paved river trail to Vienna and the mall when the U.S. Army can do it for little cost? It can be done with political support and help from the 1092nd Combat Engineer Battalion of the WV Army National Guard house in Parkersburg.

There has long been a dream to connect the cities of Parkersburg, Vienna and Williamstown with a smooth paved trail suitable for biking and walking. The biggest obstacle for its completion is the need to bridge Pond Run, a small stream, little more than 50 feet wide that flows into the Ohio River just north of the protective flood wall.

Given the missions of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the 1092nd Combat Engineer Battalion, deploying a temporary portable Bailey type bridge is a simple method to overcome a small natural obstacle.

Pinellas County, Fla., has a paved trail that has attracted multiple entrepreneurs: bicycle sales and repair, e-bike shops, sporting goods stores, diners and restaurants accompanied by multitudes of users; walkers, bicycles, e-bikes, roller skates and scooters.

West Virginia may not have the climate of Florida, but we have the lovely Ohio River, wild and wonderful hills, hardwood forests and a temperate climate, ideal for hiking along with the unfinished P2P initiative passing through Wood County as part of the longest trail in America!

Wood County can build a similar attraction, providing multiple business opportunities; good jobs with a growing economy, with help from civic leaders, the U.S. Army and friends of the trail!

Stanley Cole

Retired biker

Parkersburg