New ATV System is in the Works

A feasibility study for a proposed all-terrain vehicle trail system in central West Virginia will soon be presented to the state Legislature. The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports that the study is expected to be complete by Jan. 4 and follows more than a year of analysis by Marshall University’s Rahall Appalachian Transportation Institute and a series of public workshops in a seven-county area. Rahall Appalachian Transportation Institute project leader Amanda Payne says a 5,000- to 10,000-acre tract of land in the studied area will be identified as the most feasible site for the trails system, which is similar to the Hatfield-McCoy Trails network in the southern section of the state. The study area for the new trail system includes Braxton, Calhoun, Clay, Gilmer, Lewis, Nicholas and Webster counties.