A $250,000 State Grant Is Headed to the GAP at the Bollman Bridge
A state grant of $250,000 will pay for work on the Bollman Bridge and the Great Allegheny Passage in Summit Township, part of an $81 million statewide announcement.
Gov. Josh Shapiro and DCNR Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn announced $81 million on Wednesday for 306 recreation and conservation projects in 60 counties, and one of them sits on our trail. Somerset County will receive $250,000 to develop the Great Allegheny Passage in Summit Township, with the rehabilitation of the Bollman Bridge at mile marker 30.3, near Meyersdale, as the centerpiece. The announcement came at Swatara Crossings Park in Middletown, Dauphin County.
The money comes through the state’s Community Conservation Partnerships Program, and the county is the applicant. Besides the bridge, the work list includes ADA access, landscaping, a project sign and other site improvements.
If the bridge sounds familiar, it should. Wendel Bollman designed the 81-foot iron truss for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in 1871, and it first carried the line over Wills Creek in Bedford County. Around 1910 it was moved to Somerset County to carry a farm road over the tracks for the Petenbrink family. It earned a spot on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, then was closed in 2000 after state inspectors found it unsound. Trail advocates, PennDOT and the Somerset County trail group saved it. It was lifted off the tracks in 2006, reassembled on new abutments, and opened to trail users in September 2007, a move that cost about $274,000. Today it carries riders and walkers over Scratch Hill Road.
Statewide, $35.5 million goes to 154 local park projects and $10.7 million to 34 trail planning and development projects. Our neighbors in Fayette County did well too: Belle Vernon Borough gets $225,000 for its borough park, and the Mountain Watershed Association gets $45,000 toward 28 acres that will join the Rasler Run Nature Reserve.
The timing is welcome. The August flood closed a 27-mile stretch of the GAP through Ohiopyle, and a lot of hands got it open again. Trail towns know what a sound surface and a sturdy bridge are worth.
This one has been moved twice already. Here’s hoping it stays put this time.