Southern entrance to the Brady Tunnel. Phase II in the tunnel's rehabilitation will include replacement of the "flume" that channels water away from the tunnel and prevented the tunnel from being wet inside. The old flume, seen here overtop the tunnel, will be demolished and a new, more modern version installed.

EAST BRADY — A light is beginning to form at the end of the Brady Tunnel.

Chris Ziegler, executive director of the Allegheny Land Trust in Kittanning, said the first phase to rehabilitate the 1915 tunnel is complete and Phase II should begin within the next few months.

The Allegheny Land Trust is leading a $6 million project to rehabilitate the 2,468-foot long tunnel and upgrade five miles of the Armstrong Trail to the north of the tunnel.

Once finished, the project will close a gap in the Erie to Pittsburgh Trail, a multiuse trail more than 300 miles long.

Phase I of the project was the most ambitious portion, costing $1.3 million.

That phase included design and engineering costs, repair of 50 feet of the northern entrance to the tunnel and the repair of a 20-foot hole in that entrance that has allowed water into the tunnel for decades.

With Phase I complete, Ziegler is moving on to the $1 million second phase of the project.

This is an excerpt from a larger article that will appear in Wednesday’s Butler Eagle. Subscribe online or in print to read the full article to learn more about the next phase of work being done.