It's the kind of antsy impatience often seen in kitchens as children wait for cookies to come out of the oven.

No amount of encouragement will bake them faster.

They're done when they're done.

The same goes for bike trails, especially the 12-mile section between Meyersdale and the Maryland border in southern Somerset County.

It will be done when it's done.

Anyone who tries to get a sneak preview faces the possibility of arrest, prosecution and fines. Big fines. The kind of fines that would be better used to buy a new bike.

Brett Hollern, the trails and greenway coordinator for Somerset County and the Allegheny Trail Alliance, understands everyone's impatience. He's impatient himself.

"No one is more anxious than me to see this work completed," said Hollern, who works for the Somerset County Planning Commission.

"It is a project I have been working on for some time now that has had its share of hassles -- design issues, PennDOT approvals, funding deficiencies, floods, manufacturing delays, a misguided contractor and on and on."

In a note he posted online, and in an interview, Hollern reminded everyone that the trail between the renovated Western Maryland Railway Station and the Mason-Dixon Line is officially closed because it is in various stages of construction.

"There are construction vehicles accessing this part of the trail on a weekly basis," he said. "When these trails are constructed, they are constructed as entire projects, not in sections that make portions of them usable by the public.

"It makes no fiscal sense for a contractor to bring in the fencing subcontractor or the seeding subcontractor multiple times during the course of the project to finish up partial sections. It is unfortunate, but these projects are dollar-driven and the already tight budgets dictate that they be done as cost effectively as possible.

"They are done in a sequence as well," he added. "A bridge might not be able to be completely finished until it is done being used for truck access to bring in materials to a particular section.

"For all these reasons and more, the project area isn't safe until the contractor is substantially complete with the work. The county will open this section of trail once it is deemed complete. It will be posted on the ATA Web site."

Since the Big Savage Tunnel and the Keystone Viaduct, the two biggest and most expensive projects on that section of the trail have been completed, what has been the biggest holdup to completing the work?

The culprit is a culvert, specifically a large concrete arch culvert at State Route 2011 (McKenzie Hollow Road) near the tiny town of Deal. Trail users will go through it; motorists will drive over it.

The manufacturer of the culvert was more than a month behind on production, Hollern said. As a result, it couldn't be installed and the road re-opened before winter. PennDOT wouldn't allow the work to begin if it couldn't be completed before the snow began to fall.

And snow does fall in that area. Lots of it. At an elevation of 2,375 feet, Deal is the highest point on the trail between McKeesport (elevation 752 feet) and Cumberland, Md. (elevation 625 feet). Veteran trail and road bicyclist Bill Metzger, who has ridden more than 1,700 miles this year, suggests that a sign be placed at Deal with these words on both sides:

"It's all downhill from here."

And it soon will be all downhill from there, Hollern said.

How soon?

Probably late September.

When he feels "completely confident" in providing a specific opening date, especially with all the variables indigenous to trail work, Hollern will notify the Allegheny Trail Alliance, and it will post it on its Web site.

Linda McKenna Boxx, the president of the alliance, gave an example of why rail-trail organizations keep trails off-limits during construction.

"We don't want people getting hurt," she said in an online posting.

"The reason we are so cautious is that we had to defend ourselves in a lawsuit when a couple went into an active construction site past a "trail closed" sign and slipped off the trail down an embankment as they tried to negotiate around equipment.

"The suit was eventually withdrawn, but only after [the Regional Trail Corp.] and [the alliance] forked over about $10,000 to defend ourselves."

For more information on the alliance and the seven rail-trail organizations it represents, go to its Web site at www.atatrail.org or call toll-free 1-888-282-2453.

Update on funding

Thanks to the efforts of U. S. Sen. Paul Sarbanes, D-Maryland, another $2 million in federal funds will be applied to the estimated $4.5 million cost of completing the final nine-mile section of the Great Allegheny Passage between Frostburg and Cumberland, Md.

U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Johnstown, said last month he had been able to secure $1.6 million for that section. Maryland officials said the state will cover the rest of the cost. With any luck, and luck is always needed in trail construction, the entire Maryland section of the Great Allegheny Passage may be open late next year.