Somerset County Commissioners OK a contract for trail resurfacing
SOMERSET ― Somerset County Commissioners Tuesday approved a contract for resurfacing part of the Great Allegheny Passage and the 9/11 Memorial Trail.
The contract with Adam Eidemiller, for $448,560, is for 20 miles of trail resurfacing along the Great Allegheny Passage and 0.65 miles of the 9/11 Memorial Trail. Work on the resurfacing project will be conducted within the next two to three weeks.
Lindsay Baer, parks and trails director for Somerset County, said 1,000 tons of stone was donated from the Department of the Interior through the National Park Service.
"We had 1,000 tons of stone donated so we needed to do it soon. This is prime time for the trail so shutting down is not an option," she said. "There will be signage and flaggers along the trail."
The resurfacing work will be done between the Meyersdale trailhead to about 2 miles past Fort Hill. Resurfacing on the 9/11 Memorial Trail will include the entire offload section from Fogletown Road to the end.
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"We have 1.4 million people on the trail every year, so it's going to wear down," Baer said. "All of our sections are in as good a shape as they could be, which makes a difference in the trail use. We have to keep up with maintenance and upkeep. We're constantly doing safety inspections on a schedule."
Somerset County Parks and Trails also received $600,000 from the Federal Lands Access fund.
"Maintenance is extremely important and extremely expensive. That's why we need to look into grant funding," Baer said. "It's almost impossible to find funding to maintain the trails."
Baer said she is hoping to get concrete redecking for the bridges along the Great Allegheny Passage.
"The wooden planks were good, but they're aging," she said. "We have 42 structures on the trail. We just redecked three new bridges for $2.1 million."
The commissioners also approved a resolution giving permission for the chairman of the commissioners to sign documents that come with the project. The 9/11 Memorial Trail section is along the CSX railroad bed with a few exceptions where it has private property owners.
This will be for the planning and design. The project will be put out to bid through PennDOT within the next 1 to 2 months. That will take the project into the fall until the project has a consultant on board. After that, it should take nine months as they get the required permits. That could take about a year, Baer said. The whole project is planned for a four-year time span.
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"But we're hoping to get it done in less time than that," Baer said.
It might take nine months possibly because of the work impacting six stream crossings between Berlin and Garrett. streams extending the permit time, Baer said.
The project is administered through PennDOT as the project manager.
"We have a great partnership going with PennDOT," Baer said.
This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Somerset County Commissioners OK a contract for trail resurfacing
