A new road, from Route 30 at Lancaster to Bareville, could include a 10-foot wide linear trail for pedestrians and bicyclists, said Mark Malhenzie, the Route 23 project manager for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

The “goat path” is a roadbed built in the 1970s, when PennDOT was considering an alternative to the existing Route 23. With the current plans, planners are again looking at building the road as part of two of three options. The third option is to do nothing.

The latest plans are for a two-lane road. Because the earlier plans were for a four-lane road, it allows for the construction of a parallel trail. The crushed-stone trail would likely be separated from the road by a grass median, Malhenzie said.

Preliminary plans call for a five-mile recreational trail that would connect the Greenfield Road area with Newport Road, near Leola. A parking lot at Newport Road would serve as both a trail-head for the recreational trail and a park-and-ride lot for commuters and Red Rose Transit Authority bus riders, said Malhenzie.

The trail’s projected cost would be about $225,000, PennDOT spokesman Greg Penny said. Paving the trail with three-to-four inches of macadam, alterations for stormwater drainage or narrowing two bridges the trail would pass under would significantly increase that cost, Malhenzie said.

Bicycling advocate Michael Ridgeway, chairman of the county Bicycling and Pedestrian Advisory Council, was enthusiastic about the plans.

“A recreational trail will only increase the number of people who will use their bikes and start to commute,” said Ridgeway, who added that he was not speaking on behalf of the county advisory group.

“It sounds like a win-win,” he said.

While Malhenzie said planners see the trail being used primarily by local residents to get exercise, Ridgeway said it could also be used by people commuting by bicycle into Lancaster from the suburbs east of the city, or out from Lancaster to industries in Leola.

“Anytime we can get people out of their cars, it’s a good thing,” said Ridgeway, who is also the county’s outreach coordinator for the Susquehanna Air Quality Partnership.

Use of the trail for transportation reduces the number of cars polluting the air and also reduces traffic congestion, he said.

PennDOT does not envision the trail being used as a transportation route for Plain Sect buggies. If a new limited-access road is constructed, the existing Route 23 would be less congested between Lancaster and Bareville and buggy drivers would feel more free to use it, Malhenzie said.

“If we pulled the traffic off, they would get their local road back,” he said.

Fred Daum, co-founder of Lancaster Alliance for New Directions, a citizen group opposed to the new road, said the trail concept looks familiar to him. He’s been proposing it at PennDOT meetings for 16 years.

Daum has proposed a trail as a beneficial use for the “goat path” — without a road for automobiles.

A trail would provide a safe route for Plain Sect buggies, an opportunity for local residents to exercise and even a way for tourists to get a closer look at Amish farms without jamming local roads.

“As an overall use, for the goat path area, it’s wonderful, but I would still indicate that there is no need for a new road if adequate and proper improvements are made to the existing Route 23,” Daum said.

“After all these years, at least something is getting through to them,” he added.

The “goat path” road plans — officially the Bareville connector — will be discussed by transportation planners at a public meeting in the summer.

The earliest the road could begin construction — if ever — would be 2011, Penny said.

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