Cranberry, Jackson and Adams townships are teaming up with their neighbors to the south to build a trail system that would connect each community — and beyond.

The three municipalities are working with Marshall and Pine townships in Allegheny County to create the trail that would connect parks in each community and ultimately connect to the larger trail systems of the Rachel Carson Trail and North Country Trail.

The trail is being called the Commodore Perry Regional Trail after Perry Highway, which the trail loosely follows.

Kathleen McCaig, a planning specialist with Cranberry Township, said the five communities began getting together to plan and share information about upcoming developments and ordinances about a year ago when they found that each municipality was working on developing its own trail and better pedestrian access.

“Trails are part of everyone's plans,” McCaig said. “Each community values trails … We said what if we work on this together.”

McCaig said they began looking at the existing infrastructure, what each municipality had planned and where opportunities existed to connect across municipal lines. Trails can be sidewalks, gravel paths, widened shoulders on the road and dirt trails through the woods.

The Commodore Perry Regional Trail starts in Jackson and meanders south through Cranberry and Marshall loosely following Route 19 down to North Park in Pine Township to connect with the Rachel Carson Trail. The section of the trail splits off in Marshall Township and heads northeast through the Pine Township community park into Adams up to its community park.

Cranberry has been working on improving pedestrian and trail access for years. In particular, they require new developments to put in sidewalks and have been looking at ways to connect neighborhoods, business districts, green spaces and schools when possible.

Cranberry is seeking feedback about the proposed trail system until Oct. 10 at planning@cranberrytownship.org.

Adams and Jackson have also been working on their own trail systems to connect to surrounding communities.

Chris Rearick, Jackson township manager, said officials found through public meetings for the township's comprehensive plan that people wanted trails and more places to walk.

At the same time they become aware of and involved with a grassroots effort by residents in Jackson, Harmony and Zelienople to make a trail loop that would connect green spaces, business districts and other landmarks in each community, Rearick said. Those existing efforts dovetailed with the regional trail plan.

Jackson received a $318,000 grant from the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission to construct a multimodal trail from the park and ride on Route 528 through the edge of the Manheim Auto Auction through the residential areas on Tollgate School Road onto Perry Way and into Zelienople.

The township is in the process of acquiring property and easements and designing the trail. Construction might begin next spring or summer, Rearick said.

Rearick said Jackson also has been in negotiations with Murphy Tractor to get permission to use its property to link the Harmony Trail and former Zelienople reservoir property in Jackson.

“We were very fortunate that mutual interest occurred at the same time,” Rearick said.

Gary Peaco, Adams code enforcement officer, said Adams is in the infancy of developing trails compared to its neighbors in Cranberry and Pine, but it is working to catch up.

It is trying to secure a grant to put in a trail to connect Adams Community Park with the Mars secondary school campus on Route 228 and a grant to put in a trail from Route 228 to the Treesdale housing development that would connect the township to Pine Township Community Park, Peaco said.

Adams also is working on a trail from Mars into Adams Community Park that eventually could make a connection from Mars into Pine. It also is looking at how to link to Cranberry.

“There's a lot of pieces we've got to put together,” Peaco said. “We're trying to be a little more proactive in getting those connections made … Adams is glad to be a part of it. We're a little piece in the puzzle and we're hoping to be a bigger piece.”

A map of the proposed trail can be viewed at www.cranberrytownship.org/2670/Draft-Commodore-Perry-Regional-Trail.