By Patricia Sullivan Washington Post
Organizers of an effort to create a 1,000-mile bike trail connecting all three sites of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks unveiled a commemorative map on Thursday showing a much shorter route, from the Pentagon memorial to other nearby federal monuments and attractions.
The September 11th National Memorial Trail Alliance is constructing a trail from the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., to the site of the former World Trade Center in downtown Manhattan and a field in Shanksville, Pa. — the three points of impact for jets hijacked by terrorists that day.
From the Pentagon, the trail connects with the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park and follows it 184 miles to Cumberland, Md. It continues along the recently completed 150-mile Great Allegheny Passage to Pittsburgh before turning east for another 25 miles to Shanksville. The 530-mile Shanksville-New York leg will follow roads and trails — some already built, some being created — through New Jersey and then to Manhattan. The 337-mile leg from New York back to the Pentagon will follow the East Coast Greenway, a trail being developed for non-motorized use and dubbed the “urban equivalent of the Appalachian Trail.” The route can be viewed here.
