Mingo Creek park updates announced
Although its biggest annual event, the Covered Bridge Festival, is scheduled for this weekend, the Washington County Planning Commission, which oversees county parks, has some changes in store for Mingo Creek County Park to begin in November and be complete by spring 2017.
Lisa Cessna, executive director of the planning commission, said at an agenda-setting meeting Wednesday that shelter numbers 5 through 9 will be replaced at a cost of $176,000 and the first step will be to demolish the old structures in-house.
Peter Jeffrey Associates of Indianola, Allegheny County, will pour new concrete pads for the shelters and replace the shelters at a cost of $176,000, including materials and labor needed for the installation.
The county also expects, at a cost of $389,930, to purchase 10 prefabricated restrooms from CXT Concrete Buildings, based in Spokane, Wash., through a state contract that does not require bidding.
The plan is to add or replace restrooms near Hemlock Trail, Chapel Hill and Boulder play areas, and shelters 4 through 10.
Natural gas and oil revenues from county-owned land will be paying for both projects.
Although the Henry and Ebenezer covered bridges in the Mingo park are a destination for many festival-goers, the event also takes in Washington County sites: Wyit Sprowls Bridge in East Finley Township Park; Pine Bank Bridge in the Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Historic Village near Avella; the McClurg Bridge, Hanover Township; the Krepps Bridge, Mt. Pleasant Township; the Hughes Bridge, Amwell Township, the Brownlee Bridge in McGuffey Community Park; and in Greene County, the White Bridge on Roberts Run Road, Greene Township in the Waynesburg vicinity, and Carmichaels Bridge.