{"id":304417,"date":"2026-07-24T01:51:04","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T01:51:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/304417\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T01:51:04","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T01:51:04","slug":"new-watkins-glen-state-park-sentry-bridge-installed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/304417\/","title":{"rendered":"New Watkins Glen State Park Sentry Bridge Installed"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Watkins\"Watkins<\/a>The Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (State Parks<\/a>) has opened the new Sentry Bridge at Watkins Glen State Park<\/a>, restoring full access to the renowned Gorge and Southern Rim Trails.<\/p>\n

The bridge reconnects visitors to the park\u2019s iconic waterfalls<\/a>, overlooks and trail network in one of New York\u2019s most visited parks.<\/p>\n

A significant upgrade, the new Sentry Bridge, designed by a team led by the New York-based studios of schlaich bergermann partner (sbp) and Sn\u00f8hetta, is less vulnerable to erosion than the previous bridge, provides improved sightlines for visitors, and features a modern deck surface designed to reduce congestion and improve pedestrian flow.<\/p>\n

Visitors can now once again experience all 19 waterfalls and park features, including the spray of Cavern Cascade and the historic 120-step Couch\u2019s Staircase which connects to trails leading to the South Pavilion and swimming pool.<\/p>\n

Utilizing $7.5 million in New York State Parks capital funding, the new Sentry Bridge is constructed of lightweight stainless steel designed to withstand the challenging gorge environment for more than a century.<\/p>\n

\"Watkins\"Watkins<\/a>Weighing approximately 100 tons less than the previous structure, the new bridge removes significant pressure from the surrounding rock formations.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the new span features a unique half-arch design, allowing the primary foundation point to be anchored on the much stronger northern wall of the Watkins Glen Gorge.<\/p>\n

This design calls back to the historic 1908 stone arch and utilizes recovered stone from the original structure for portions of the kneewalls on the approach to the new bridge.<\/p>\n

Watkins Glen State Park is the most visited park in the Finger Lakes Region<\/a>, with approximately 1.3 million annual visitors.<\/p>\n

Over the course of two miles, Glen Creek descends nearly 400 feet through a dramatic gorge featuring 19 waterfalls, stone staircases, bridges and scenic overlooks.<\/p>\n

The park also offers campgrounds and cabins, playgrounds, picnic facilities and a guarded swimming pool.<\/p>\n

Read more about New York\u2019s State Parks.<\/a><\/p>\n

Photos: Watkins Glen Park\u2019s New Sentry Bridge, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (State Parks) has opened the new Sentry Bridge at Watkins…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304418,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,11,10,49,51,50],"class_list":["post-304417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}