TAMAQUA - A new bridge carrying traffic over the Little Schuylkill River on Route 309 in Tamaqua opened Thursday.
Since September 2011, crews have worked to replace an old, structurally deficient bridge there, the state Department of Transportation said in a news release.
In the meantime, a temporary road and two-lane bridge allowed traffic to cross the Little Schuylkill River.
But with the work on the new bridge complete, traffic shifted to the new span Thursday morning, PennDOT said. Now, the contractor will begin removing the temporary bridge and continue with sidewalk and curb work, along with landscaping in the project area - work that is scheduled to be completed in May, according to PennDOT.
Clearwater Construction Inc., Mercer, is the general contractor on the $3,180,000 project.
According to PennDOT, the old Route 309/South Tamaqua bridge over the Little Schuylkill River was a masonry stone arch bridge constructed in 1895. It was 107 feet long and 41 feet wide.
The new span - a concrete bulb T-beam bridge - is 103 feet long and 55.6 feet wide.
An average of 7,175 vehicles travel Route 309 in South Tamaqua every day.