Originally Posted by
u235
Leave the C&O as is (except for routine replacing missing bridges and washouts). It is unique. Paved routes are literally everywhere, relatively smooth rail trails are not everywhere but still around. There are large sections of paved trail parallel to the C&O around Hancock. Nice but I'm glad they left the C&O in tact around it.
/soap-box mode/
My experience with paved over trails.. Most are cheap quick jobs and within a few years they become mine fields of 45 degree 3 inch high root bumps that are far worse to pass over than anything I've ever seen on a limestone/gravel path, even for people who it was originally intended for like strollers and walkers. I wonder how many people on foot twist an ankle or face plant in the autumn when the hazards are covered with leaves.
Unpaved is better for hikers & to pave properly would cost a fortune. OTOH it would be sweet to be able to cruise smoothly all the way from DC to Pittsburgh. Very few hikers, I imagine, do the whole C&O let alone combined with GAP. I don't backpack but for this region I'd prefer Shenandoah etc trails. Gravel C&O is more in keeping with the original
look but IMO a paved path would be more in the original
spirit of it being a practical transportation corridor.