Army Corps closes access to Yough Lake as Great Crossings Bridge reemerges
207-year-old stone span once again visible
The Great Crossings Bridge that wowed hordes of visitors last year when the early 19th-century span emerged from the murky Youghiogheny River Lake is making an encore this fall, although the federal government’s shutdown could hamper the public’s ability to see it this time around.
Thanks to a dry summer, the 207-year-old stone arch bridge popped through the surface Oct. 15 when the Yough Lake dropped below 1,391 feet, making it back-to-back years in which it has appeared.
But unlike last year, visitors won’t have the luxury of parking at the Somerfield North Boat Ramp after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers closed the two steel gates blocking access to the lot. A sign posted by the Army Corps in front of one of the gates reads “Notice to Visitors: Access to this area is currently restricted.”
The restrictions are believed to be in part a result of the shutdown of the federal government that began Oct. 1 and has caused widespread furloughs and unpaid work in numerous departments across the country. It’s not known what staffing level the Army Corps has at the Yough River Lake Dam site to help monitor the area and keep visitors from walking across the bridge, which has orange plastic barriers designed to keep people off of the span.
While there are still pathways for pedestrians to walk down the boat ramp to get a better view of the bridge, the lack of parking could become problematic if crowds descend on the site as they did last fall when the bridge was visible for several weeks in October and November. The lake reached 1,361 feet on Nov. 21 – the fifth lowest mark in the Yough Lake’s 81-year history – allowing people to see a good portion of the three-arch stone bridge that stretches 375 feet between Fayette and Somerset counties.
Fayette County President Judge Steve Leskinen, whose family owns the Yough Lake Marina in Somerset County on the southern side of Route 40, said it was unusual for the Army Corps to lock the upper gate leading to the parking lot, even during the off-season when boaters don’t use the ramp.
“They do have a gate there, but normally they don’t close the upper gate,” Leskinen said Tuesday. “That’s a result of the federal government shutdown. So that’s highly unusual.”
As word begins to spread of the Great Crossings Bridge’s reemergence from the bottom of the lake, Leskinen suspects more tourists will visit the area to catch a glimpse of history. That also concerns him if the 100-plus space parking lot is not available, meaning people will likely find spots in nearby businesses or even on the high bridge along Route 40, as some did last year.
“I really hope the water doesn’t go as low as last year because with the parking lot shut down it’s going to cause a terrible traffic jam. They’re going to park on the highway to look,” Leskinen said. “It got to the point last year you could barely get through. People were driving really slowly to look or to find a parking spot. Now it’s going to be really tough. I don’t know how they’re going to enforce the no trespassing with no one there and a skeleton crew.”
The parking situation and the closure could also dissuade people from visiting at all. This past weekend, only a few visitors at a time appeared at the site and took in the scenery, which is a far cry from last year when thousands of people came, mostly on the weekends.
“It’ll certainly push people away,” Leskinen said. “With the gates open (last year) the history buffs had displays and the Corps guys had personnel there. It made it like a street fair. It was really a fun thing.”
A spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers in Pittsburgh said Tuesday the restricted access is over safety concerns, although he did not address whether the federal government shutdown played a role in that decision.
“The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District closed access to the Great Crossings Bridge at Youghiogheny River Lake due to the uncertainty of the bridge’s structural integrity and out of abundance of caution for the public’s safety,” said Andrew Byrne, who is a public affairs specialist for the Army Corps in Pittsburgh.
The Army Corps closed access to only the bridge last year by placing orange fencing on the edge of the span to block people from walking across it. The rest of the parking lot and boat ramp area were still accessible for people to photograph the bridge or gawk at the unusual site.
The stone bridge opened in 1818 and carried traffic along the National Road through the town of Somerfield on the banks of the Youghiogheny River. It was in use until the early 1940s, when the Army Corps built the Yough Dam and put it into operation in 1944 as part of federal flood control efforts. Properties in Somerfield were taken by eminent domain and the town was flooded, although sidewalks and building foundations can still be seen in the lake bed when the water levels drop during the fall and winter.
The bridge emerges every few years – the previous time was in 2019 – so the back-to-back appearances have made for a somewhat unusual development. The water level was at 1,380 as of Tuesday afternoon.
Leskinen said people are more than welcome to park at his Yough Lake Marina if he or others are there working on the weekends and their parking gate is open.
“As long as they know when I’m leaving so they don’t get locked in,” Leskinen said with a laugh. “That’s not ideal. The ideal thing would be for the government shutdown to end.”