More Scenes from the Trail

Today’s photos, and the one that I posted in the previous blog entry , were taken last month during a trip that Jonathan and I made on the Great Allegheny Passage  from Garrett, PA to the Big Savage Tunnel. (This trip was 14 miles one way.)

After I posted the previous entry, my mother mentioned to me that she and my father had been on the same section of trail this past week.  She brought up the construction work being done on the Keystone Viaduct.  This former railroad bridge south of Meyersdale on the trail crosses still-active railroad tracks. Riders across the Viaduct are currently requested to walk their bikes through the construction area, as the trail access on the bridge is restricted to one narrow lane.  At the end of the bridge, we looked over the railing to see the work being done. We noted that the bridge was higher than its original foundation and that there were jacks underneath it.

I later discovered through a conversation with my mother, as well as this article, that the bridge has been raised to accommodate double-decker trains. According to the Facebook page for the Great Allegheny Passage, the Keystone Viaduct is now 24” higher than it had been at the beginning of August.

Another viaduct on this section of trail – the Salisbury Viaduct – is my favorite one on the passage. This bridge adjoins the small cemetery that from the photo in the prior blog entry. Here is a photo from the Salisbury Viaduct: