PORT CARBON - Borough officials are pleased with work being done by the county and state to upgrade three bridges within its borders.
"I'm glad to see they're getting done," borough council President Harold "Bucky" Herndon said Thursday.
The project he's most excited about is the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation's planned replacement of the Pottsville Street Bridge, a $3 million project slated for 2014.
"It's been a long time coming. We've been pushing to get this done," he said.
Pottsville Street Bridge
This week, geotechnical engineers from Cumberland County will come to the borough to drill holes near the base of the Pottsville Street Bridge, according to Sean A. Brown, safety press officer for the state Department of Transportation.
AWK Engineering, Mechanicsburg, will do the study.
"That's a standard practice. When you build something like a bridge you want to do some test borings to see what the terrain is like, what the ground is like," Brown said.
Built in 1926, the Pottsville Street Bridge is a concrete T-beam bridge. It needs to be replaced because of deficiencies in its superstructure, Brown said.
In June 2009, a 40,000-pound 330 John Deere excavator crashed through the bridge's north sidewalk.
Gibson-Thomas Engineering Co., Camp Hill, PennDOT's design consultant, is currently working on the design, Brown said.
In October 2010, Brown estimated the bridge would be replaced in 2013. However, on Friday he said construction may not begin until 2014.
"I hope the new bridge will be a different type of structure and hopefully debris won't get caught under there. That's what stops up the flow of the creek and causes the water to spill over," Herndon said.
Mill Street Bridge
Meanwhile, Schuylkill County has replaced the Mill Street bridge over the Schuylkill River and after a year of work, opened the bridge to traffic on Jan. 10, according to Lisa Mahall, Schuylkill County engineer.
"We have to do some minor paving work, but we're going to do that in spring," she said Thursday.
A temporary bridge and traffic signal were erected in the area to keep traffic moving while the new bridge was established.
"The temporary bridge still needs to be removed. I'm working with a contractor now to schedule that," Mahall said.
The former Mill Street Bridge, built in 1921, was deemed structurally deficient, as the beams underneath it were deteriorating.
The state had funded the $2,599,512 project. Of that, $1,451,000 is designated for construction costs; $664,190 for engineering design work; $145,322 for construction inspection; $44,000 for the traffic signal, and $295,000 for the temporary bridge, according to Mahall.
Coal Street Bridge
This week, PennDOT started work to reinforce and build up the wall on the south side of the Coal Street Bridge, which connects the borough to Palo Alto.
"They're replacing the parapet," Brown said.
Borough Fire Chief Michael E. Welsh said while there have been no accidents involving pedestrians at this bridge, the work will further increase pedestrian safety.
This project is one of 20 bridge parapet replacement jobs the state is working on, using $10 million in federal stimulus funds, Brown said.
"This is the only one of these projects in Schuylkill County. The other 19 are in Monroe County," Brown said.