GETTYSBURG, Pa. — The Little Round Top area of the Gettysburg National Military Park will reopen in the late spring or early summer, the National Park Service said on its website.
The area has been closed since July 2022 for an extensive rehabilitation project that was expected to last about 18 months, which would have put its reopening date in late January of February of this year.
Instead, history buffs will have to wait a little longer, the NPS said.
The $13 million project is designed to address overwhelmed parking areas, poor accessibility, and related safety hazards, "significant" erosion, and degraded vegetation at Little Round Top, according to the NPS.
"The scope of the project will reestablish, preserve, and protect the features that make up this segment of the battlefield landscape," NPS said in a statement back in 2022. "This project will also enhance the visitor experience with improved interpretive signage, new accessible trail alignments, and gathering areas. These improvements will allow visitors to better immerse themselves into the historic landscape that is essential to understanding the three-day Battle of Gettysburg."
The closure affects the entire area around Little Round Top, NPS said. South Confederate Avenue (just past the Picnic Area exit), Sykes Avenue, Warren Avenue, and Wright Avenue are closed to all automobiles during the project, and all monuments in the area, including the 20th Maine monument, are currently inaccessible.
South Confederate Avenue is remain open for visitors to walk, hike, and ride their bikes from the Picnic Area to near the four-way intersection of South Confederate Avenue, Warren Avenue, Sykes Avenue, and Wright Avenue according to NPS.
All walking trails in this area are also still open, NPS said.
