Work to begin on $2.3M Pymatuning Park trail project
Work gets underway in a couple of weeks on a $2.3 million project to expand and rehabilitate the multipurpose trail near the spillway in Pymatuning State Park.
The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation says work includes resurfacing the existing Pymatuning Spillway Trail from Fries Road past the Spillway Overlook to Hartstown Road.
A new section of trail will be constructed from Hartstown Road to South Chestnut Street in Linesville Borough. Once complete, the trail will be increased from just over one mile long to more than three miles long.
The project will also include the relocation of the 145-year-old Messerall Truss Bridge in Oil Creek Township, Crawford County.
The bridge will be dismantled, rehabilitated at a workshop, and reassembled with a wooden deck at Pymatuning State Park.
The metal bowstring through truss bridge, which once carried Messerall Road over Pine Creek, was constructed in 1876 and has been closed since 1987. In its new location, the bridge will carry the multi-use trail over Linesville Creek.
Work is expected to start July 26, 2021, weather permitting, and will be completed in the summer of 2022.
Though most of the work will be done off-road, PennDOT says drivers may encounter traffic controlled by flaggers. Sections of the trail and the lot near the spillway will be closed to pedestrians and bicyclists temporarily during portions of the construction.
The project is Phase 1 of the plan to expand the Pymatuning Spillway Trail. The next phase includes a new trail that runs from South Chestnut Street to Townline Road.
