Bridge removed at Yough Park
CONNELLSVILLE – An unidentified businessman sat on the Yough Park band stage Thursday watching as construction workers dismantled the wooden boardwalk. “I would like to have seen it repaired instead of taken down,” he said. “But, improvement is good.” Connellsville Redevelopment Authority executive director Michael Edwards said that the removal of the boardwalk is part of an overall plan to improve the facilities at the popular riverfront locale and upgrade the city’s portion of the Great Allegheny Passage bike trail that traverses through the park.
“(The boardwalk removal) was a recommendation in a feasibility study for the park,” he said. “It will open up the view of the river.”
Last year through a Katherine Mabis McKenna Foundation grant, Mackin Engineering designers and planners met with representatives of the local historical society, trail groups, city officials and the redevelopment authority to garner ideas to enhance the park and trail and accommodate those visiting the facilities or using the bike path.
The improvements will be done in several phases, Edwards said.
The current project being completed by M&D Excavating of Connellsville will include the reduction of an area being utilized by the Connellsville Municipal Authority, construction of a plaza near the Cream of the Trail refreshment stand that will include the addition of tables, chairs, benches and landscaping for the area.
The project also entails the widening of the existing bike path to accommodate not only bikers, but also moms with baby strollers, roller bladers or those walking along the trail.
M&D co-owner Keith Miller said it was time for the removal of the wooden structure as three decades and weather during that period has caused it to deteriorate.
“It just fell apart as we took it down,” he said Thursday.
Edwards, meanwhile, said that he understands the mixed feelings about the demise of the boardwalk that has stood along the river for 30 years.
“In the early 1980s, there was nothing there and the boardwalk was the first structure as the city began to develop the park,” he said. “It was a good thing at the time; now there are different needs and priorities.”
The project is being funded through the state Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) allocation.
Next year, the plan is to add an asphalt path along the riverbank; play areas for children, a bike wash, the upgrade of restroom facilities and the stabilization of the riverbank with foliage and stone.
The authority is seeking a Community Conservation Partnerships Program matching grant through the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to further fund the improvement project. A backhoe tears through the boardwalk at Yough River Park on Friday. The removal of the boardwalk is part of an overall plan to improve the facilities at the popular riverfront locale and upgrade the city?s portion of the Great Allegheny Passage bike trail that traverses through the park. John F. Brothers/Herald-Standard