Aug 21, 2013 3 min read

A bridge damaged last year by a truck carrying a load much heavier than the 3-ton posted weight limit over Mingo Creek in the Nottingham Township park is scheduled to be repaired next year.

At their meeting last week, the Washington County commissioners approved a $90,076 contract with GAI Consulting Engineers to inspect construction of the Chapel Hill Bridge over Mingo Creek in Mingo Creek County Park. The cost will be borne solely by state taxpayers.

“We must have an inspection agreement in place prior to going to bid,” said Lisa Cessna, director of the Washington County Planning Commission.

The project is likely to be advertised in December for the 2014 construction season and its replacement is expected to cost $1,372,000. Bridge replacements typically result in a six- to nine-month closure.

The road, called Chapel Hill because of its proximity to Edwards Chapel on Route 136, was closed between the Feb. 29, 2012, accident through mid-September of last year, opening in time for last year’s Covered Bridge Festival.

At Cross Creek County Park, the commissioners approved the $44,194 purchase, to be paid from oil and gas lease proceeds, of a prefabricated, double-vault building with to provide additional restrooms near the shelters. The purchase, from CXT Concrete Buildings, based in Spokane, Wash., is being made through a state contract that does not require bidding.

“We are building a new shelter in Cross Creek that is ready to go to bid this fall,” Cessna said. “It’s a pretty simple project so the work can be done over the winter.”

Constructing the shelter entails excavating and bringing electrical lines to the site near the Route 50 boat launch.

Also related to Cross Creek park, the commissioners also approved a division order with Range Resources for payment of royalties for horizontal wells 17, 19 and 45-47 based on the amount of acreage in use for extracting gas and oil from the Marcellus Shale.

In another park- and recreation-related agenda item last week, the commissioners last week approved Columbia Gas Co.’s installation of a two-inch line under the Panhandle Trail at the intersection of West End Drive in Cecil Township. They anticipated no disturbance to the surface of the trail, which is named for the Panhandle Railroad, which once connected Pittsburgh to Cincinnati, Ohio, and points west. The 27-mile crushed-stone trail stretches between Carnegie and Weirton, W.Va., through northern Washington County.

Cessna said Tuesday afternoon that the county had not yet received a followup letter that would reveal a date when boring beneath the trail would begin.