SCHELLSBURG — Aging bridges at Shawnee and water lines at Blue Knob are examples of the backlog of infrastructure needs facing state parks.

“The truth is, we’ve neglected our infrastructure in the parks for too long; we can’t let it go any longer,” Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn said while visiting Shawnee Wednesday.

“The biggest nightmare of our professional staff (would be) to have something on our watch harm people, harm park visitors, due to us not being able to secure funding,” Dunn said.

DCNR said that 1,933 of the state parks’ and forests’ 4,700 buildings are 50 or more years old.

At Shawnee, a major concern is with bridges. One of the bridges was damaged during Hurricane Ida in the fall, and while repairs have long been in the works, further maintenance is required, according to Jim Sowerbrower, DCNR regional engineer.

Wayne Nguyen, DCNR’s civil engineering manager, said at least two of Shawnee’s bridges are well past their prime.

The two bridges are “in satisfactory condition right now,” Nguyen said, though they are 75 years old. The average lifespan for a bridge is 50 years.

“It is an aging structure and has repairs that need to be done,” Nguyen said of the two bridges. “So, with the inspection team, we have to solve it.”

According to Sowerbrower, the issues with bridges merely scratches the surface. Shawnee officials are shelling out about $900,000 in water line replacement at Blue Knob State Park, which is overseen by Shawnee.

“At this point, we’re doing what we can with the dollars that are available,” Sowerbrower said, adding that the $900,000 total is to replace just one third of the water line system.

Gov. Tom Wolf has proposed to allocate $450 million of $1.7 billion in COVID-19 relief funding toward conservation, recreation and preservation.

“The infrastructure bill would allow us to focus on that project and save from the professional design standpoint as well as the construction aspect,” Sowerbrower said of Wolf’s proposed legislation.

“The best opportunity for funding that I’ve seen in decades is upon us right now,” Dunn said. “It’s a great opportunity to put us on a good track.”