Laurel Highlands Turnpike
Bridge Page
AS OF 1/3/2012
Unfortunately, the final
safety features needing to be installed on the bridge have been delayed at the
fabricator. Mosites Construction has been facing scheduling difficulties getting
the protective fencing fabricated and delivered to site. They are doing their
best to ensure a quick delivery and installation of the fencing so that the
bridge may be opened soon. The installation of the ROW fencing should be
completed by this Friday, January 6, 2012. Mosites anticipates installation of
the protective fencing to begin on Monday, January 9, 2012. They expect
installation to take 1 to 1 ½ weeks to complete. We have a job conference
scheduled for tomorrow morning. If there are any updates from this meeting I
will be certain to relay later in the day.
I will continue to update you
with the most current information on this important project. Thanks for your
continued patience. Please feel free to contact me directly if you should have
any questions.
Mike Mumau
| Park Operations Manager
Department of Conservation & Natural Resources
Laurel Hill State Park Complex 1454 Laurel Hill Park Road | Somerset, PA 15501
Phone: 814.445.7725 | Fax: 814.443.4439
AS OF 12/6/2011
The Laurel Highlands Hiking
Trail Bridge, that crosses the PA Turnpike, is slated to open to recreational
activity on January 6, 2012. This date is contingent on weather/conditions and
installation of the protective fencing. Mosites Construction Company has done an
outstanding job on this project and we are very pleased with the product. The
final remaining work items include installation of the protective cage over the
bridge, installation of right of way fencing, installation of trail gates and
final seeding and landscaping. Completion of these remaining work items will
allow DCNR to accept the bridge and then open to the various user groups that
utilize the bridge.
Please feel free to contact
me directly if you should have any questions. Thank you for your support of this
important project.
Mike Mumau
| Park Operations Manager
Department of Conservation & Natural Resources
Laurel Hill State Park Complex
1454 Laurel Hill Park Road | Somerset, PA 15501
AS OF 11/10/2011
Hello,
I wanted to drop a line and
give an update on the LHHT Bridge. Construction has been moving along nicely.
The recent focus has been on the approaches to the bridge from the north and
south. There was a great deal of work that went into improving these approaches,
specifically for snowmobiles and groomer/drag.
Remaining work items include,
but are not limited to:
·
Installation of protective
barrier fence over bridge.
·
Construction of northern
approach to bridge.
·
Installation of Right of Way
fencing.
Thanks for your support. Please let me know if you
should have any questions.
Mike
Mike Mumau
| Park Operations Manager
Department of Conservation & Natural Resources
Laurel Hill State Park Complex
AS OF 5/31/2011
Current status on the Bridge is construction has started.
Reports of survey work completed at the site is the first step in that progress.
Below are some articles sent to us by various groups monitoring this progress.
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/laurel-highlands-hiking-trail-bridge-replacement-to-begin-may-31-122608733.html
AS OF 5/4/2011
Greetings, I
wanted to let everyone know that the initial job conference for the Laurel
Highlands Hiking Trail Bridge Replacement has been scheduled for mid-May. I will
provide monthly updates once construction is underway to keep everyone in the
loop on progress.
Thanks for your
continued support on this important project.
Mike Mumau
AS OF 3/11/2011
--------------------
Bids opened for new bridge
--------------------
VICKI ROCK
Daily American Staff Writer
Bids for a new Laurel
Highlands Hiking Trail Bridge were opened Thursday
afternoon.
The
complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.dailyamerican.com/news/somerset/da-ot-bids-opened-for-new-bridge-20110310,0,286249.story
Visit dailyamerican.com at
http://www.dailyamerican.com
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
AS OF
12/17/2010 from the PSSA office
Bob and I received an update on
the Laurel Highlands Bridge from DCNR at the Snowmobile/ATV Advisory Committee
meeting today as follows: The bridge is funded. The consultant is
nearing the completion of the final design. Once the design is final,
probably within the next 30 days, the bidding process will begin. This
will take about three months. They anticipate construction to begin in the
spring of 2011. Have a great weekend!
Lori Elliott
Executive Director
Pennsylvania State
Snowmobile Association
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
This page is all about how to help us save the bridge.
It contacts contact info for the local legislators and other info needed to help
"Save the bridge to Rolling Ridge
Snowmobile Club" which is located on the other side of Route 30 past
Wallats.
Here is the design plan for the new turnpike
bridge - a single span structure !
Be sure to check out
Page 1 and
Page 2 from the DCNR on
it.
Here's the pages for the
overall bridge picture, the side
section picture, and the top view
of it.
Email from Mike Mumau on the
status of the bridge project is as follows: 12/9/2010
Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 2010 5:25 AM
To:
Mumau, Michael
Subject: Update
Hi Mike. The LHSC
meeting is Thursday night. It's one of our biggest
meetings
because the DCNR is in attendance. Is there any update on the
bridge? Is the design final? When do you plan to go out for bids?
Etc.
Any update you could provide would be helpful. Thanks!!
-Kerri
Morning Kerri,
Our
DCNR engineers have finished their review of final design documents
from Gibson Thomas (consultant). Gibson Thomas has been given the
go ahead
to produce the final design documents. We look at
having the project out
for bid in late February.
Project is on target as originally
scheduled.
Enjoy the snow on Sunday.
Mike
Mike Mumau |
Park Operations Manager
Department of Conservation & Natural Resources
Laurel Hill
Complex
1454 Laurel Hill Park Road |
Somerset, PA 15501
The current bridge
status page is here. As of 8/20/2010 straight from the
DCNR.
Bridge update as of 8/16/10
See the presidents
message about the Laurel Highlands Bridge and a current update on
it's status. It's imperative that we contact the
DCNR and ensure that the
bridge gets on the list of items to be completed for the coming
year. Again, the schedule is on track but they are
telling us the funding isn't in place to complete the project.
It will be important to pressure the correct people with emails and
letters to get this accomplished. If not then NO BRIDGE WILL
BE BUILT. Remember, it's up to you.... the public voice.... to
make this happen. No one else can do it. Do
you want the bridge or not ?!!
(As was posted by Kerri in the Previous Presidents Message
dated 8/16/2010)
Dear Members,
It has been a long time since I have
provided an e-mail update on the
Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail bridge that
crosses over the PA Turnpike.
There is, unfortunately, some not so good news
and I would like to take
this opportunity to provide the information that I
have.
On March 30th, there was a private meeting held at the Laurel Hill
State
Park Complex where those in attendance were told that everything is on
track for completion of a new bridge and that the funding is secure.
While we had our doubts, we proceeded hopeful that what we were told was
indeed fact.
On July 28, there was a public meeting held in the same
location and the
DCNR, State Parks, informed us that while the design of the
bridge is
moving forward as planned, there is no funding for the project.
When asked
to provide an estimate of how much of the funding they do have,
they said
about 30%.
For those who do not know the total estimated
cost, the bridge is estimated
to be around $1.5 million to replace, so 30% is
less than $500,000.
Whether we like it or not, these are the facts.
The bridge, at this
moment, is scheduled for completion on December 6, 2011.
This is 9 days
before the start of the 2011-2012 snowmobile riding season.
This means
that they only have about 9 days for error because any type of
construction
like this would not take place in the winter. If anything
at all goes
wrong, it will be a minimum of one more riding season without the
bridge.
The 3 local snowmobile clubs have not stopped working towards
this cause,
even though you may not have seen any recent e-mails. We
have mailed or
hand delivered between 6000 and 7000 petition signatures to
Legislators
Reese and Metzgar and Senator Kasunic. They are each still
active in this
project.
The clubs plan to stay on top of this but we
need your help. I know a lot
of you have called or wrote letters in the
past to the Representatives and
Senator I've listed above. I'm asking
you to please take the time to do
this again. If this project slips at
all, instead of just having 2 riding
seasons without the bridge. it could be
many more. We must do what we can
to secure the funding. Below
and attached I have provided contact
information again for Legislator Reese,
Legislator Metzgar, Senator Kasunic
and Governor Rendell.
In addition
to this, the local clubs are working with DCNR, State Parks, to
set up an
account that will accept tax deductible donations. Once this is
complete, we will forward that information to you so that you can make a
donation if you so choose.
PLEASE CONTACT THE FOLLOWING:
Governor Edward G. Rendell's Office
225 Main Capitol Building
Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania 17120
Phone: (717) 787-2500
Fax: (717) 772-8284
Richard A Kasunic (D)
Senate District 32
Fayette, Somerset (part),
Washington (part) and Westmoreland (part)
Counties.
ADDRESS: Senate Box
203032
Harrisburg, PA 17120-3032
ROOM: 458 Capitol Building
TELEPHONE:
(717) 787-7175
D.O. ADDRESS:
1192 University Drive
Dunbar, PA 15431
(724) 626-1611
Carl Walker Metzgar (Republican)
Bedford County (Part)
and Somerset County (Part)
Hon. Carl Walker Metzgar
149A East Wing
PO
Box 202069
Harrisburg, PA 17120-2069
(717) 783-8756
Fax: (717) 787-2005
Mike Reese (Republican)
Fayette County (Part) and Westmoreland County
(Part)
Hon. Mike Reese
409 Irvis Office Building
PO Box 202059
Harrisburg, PA 17120-2059
(717) 783-9311
Fax: (717) 260-6502
Please do not hesitate to contact any of the individuals within the state !
They are looking for our input and support and especially during a election year
they will LISTEN TO YOU !!!!
P.S. Please note that you
can contact your local Representative/Senator as
well. The 3 that I
listed above are those who are involved in the Laurel
Highlands area, but
contact with any Representative/Senator will be
extremely helpful.
Please
send any comments to Steve Matscherz
Web page programming provided by Steve Matscherz - Pittsburgh,
PA
