Members of Pa. House, Senate set to attend dedication ceremony for Pfc. Bakewell Bridge

WASHINGTON COUNTY, Pa. — Members of the Pennsylvania House and Senate will gather at the Pfc. Bakewell Bridge in Washington County on April 12 at 3 p.m. for a dedication ceremony for the family of the man the bridge is named after.

Pfc. Ronald “Smokey” Bakewell of Brownsville was an Army infantryman who was killed in action in the Vietnam War on Aug. 2, 1968, by a North Vietnamese sniper after only 42 days in Vietnam, according to his family.

The Pfc. Bakewell Bridge opened on Monday, July 16, 2012, and links Washington and Fayette counties via Pennsylvania Turnpike 43, completing the Brownsville to Uniontown section of the toll road and making nearly 70 continuous miles of highway open from Morgantown, W. Va., to Large, Pa., according to a press release.

The press release went on to state that the bridge was designed by FIGG Engineering Group and was constructed by Walsh Construction Company at an estimated cost of $95,169,000.

WPXI