The Montour Trail has scheduled ceremonies to celebrate progress in closing three gaps along its 46-mile route, but it may take years to fill one of its most conspicuous missing links.

The J.R. Taylor Memorial Bridge over Clifton Road in Bethel Park will be dedicated at noon Sunday, and groundbreakings are set in October for bridges over Morganza and Georgetown roads in Cecil.

But plans to build a bridge at the Routes 50-980 intersection farther west on the trail in Cecil must wait until the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation moves ahead with a project to realign the intersection.

Ned Williams, president of the Montour Trail Council, told the Pennsylvania State Transportation Commission at a hearing last week that the council is eager to move ahead with the bridge so bicyclists and other trail users don’t have to cross traffic.

“It’s an ugly intersection. There’s a lot of near-misses there and a lot of crashes there,” he told the commission, which is considering updates to the state’s long-range transportation plan.

The problem has only gotten worse with truck traffic from Washington County’s booming gas drilling industry, Mr. Williams said.