Conewago Recreation Trail repair
A series of nasty summer storms has left a section of Lancaster County's Conewago Recreation Trail in danger of collapse.
County commissioners at their weekly meeting Wednesday morning are expected to vote to bypass the county's normal protocol for hiring contractors.
Emergency authority would be granted to the facilities management department to hire a firm as quickly as possible to repair the damage before it gets worse.
"We have the potential to lose the trail, which would be a much more significant cost than trying to repair this," said Charlie Douts, director of facilities management. "This is an emergency and needs to be taken care of."
The Conewago Recreation Trail runs for five miles along the county's northern border in Mount Joy Township.
It parallels Conewago Creek, which separates Lancaster and Dauphin counties.
Last month, severe storms uprooted several trees that fell across the creek in the Aberdeen area between Mill and Old Hershey roads.
The trees restricted the natural flow of water and caused significant erosion of the stream bank on the Lancaster County side, according to John Ulaky, the county's grounds superintendent.
County work crews cut and removed the trees, but the washed-out bank near the Conewago trail remained.
Subsequent storms in August have washed out the bank even more, Ulaky said, creating a 12-foot-high cliff within two feet of the trail.
That area has been cordoned off with security fencing to keep hikers, bikers and horse riders away from it, Ulaky said.
"If a horse got near it, it could collapse because the surface has been undermined," he said.
Used by an estimated 60,000 people every year, the Conewago trail was renovated and resurfaced in 2007 at a cost of $530,000.
Douts said the damaged section can be repaired for about $20,000 by filling in the washed-out area with boulders and smaller rocks.
Ulaky said the plan is to create a slope stretching from the trail down to the stream.
He estimated it will take about 700 tons of rock to do the job.
Facilities management has been soliciting estimates from potential contractors and Douts said he hopes to hire one by the end of the week.
Ulaky expects work to begin next week and be finished within a month.
"We need to do something now," he said. "Somebody's going to get hurt."