The Carbon County Board of Commissioners and Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor will celebrate the long-awaited first crossing and dedication of the Mansion House Bridge at Jim Thorpe on Monday.

Twenty-five years in the making, the event will begin at 9:15 a.m. with the United Veterans unfurling of the flags followed by the first crossing of the bridge by the Jim Thorpe Bike Team and 300 Rails-to-Trails Pennsylvania Sojourn Bicyclists. The dedication is scheduled for 9:45 a.m. The public is invited to attend and celebrate this milestone.

Cindy Adams Dunn, Secretary for the Department of Conservation & Natural Resources, and James Ritzman, Deputy Secretary of Planning for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, are scheduled to speak during the event.

The bridge and D&L trail will be open for public use from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Monday. The retaining wall and trail project on the east side of the Lehigh River are not complete. Following the dedication on Monday, the bridge will be closed to public use until further notice.

Trail users are encouraged to check the D&L’s interactive map for the most up-to-date information. The map can be found online at delawareandlehigh.org/map/.

Once the trail project is completed, the Mansion House Bridge will connect 57 miles of the D&L Trail through four counties. It’s location in Jim Thorpe is central to connecting 35 miles north to the Black Diamond Trailhead (north of White Haven) and 23 miles south to Northampton Borough.

The Mansion House Bridge Project was conceived in the D&L’s 1992 Management Action Plan and was funded by a $4.1 million grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources provided funding for engineering and design. The through truss bridge was assembled and installed by Latona Trucking of Pittston.