Mar 29, 2011 By Steve Ferris 2 min read

A contract to replace a Coolspring-Jumonville Road bridge in North Union Township, which the state has deemed structurally deficient, will be awarded in May.

The conceptual design of the new bridge is begin developed and a contract for the project will be awarded on May 26, said Brian Svesnik, state Department of Transportation (PennDOT) project engineer.

The work is scheduled to take place in 2013.

Completing the design and acquiring the right-of-way needed to widen the bridge requires a year or two, Svesnik said.

The existing 22-by-22-foot, single span T-beam bridge over Shutes Run is made of reinforced concrete and was built in the 1930s, he said.

“The bridge is structurally deficient. That’s why where replacing it,” Svesnik said.

It will be replaced with a 22-feet-long, 30-feet-wide pre-cast reinforced box culvert bridge, he said.

The new bridge would include two 11-foot wide lanes and 4-foot shoulders along both lanes, he said, adding that the project includes resurfacing 150 feet of the road on both sides of the bridge.

“The existing bridge is narrow. The new bridge will be a lot wider,” Svesnik said.

PennDOT displayed plans for the new bridge at a meeting in the North Union Township Municipal Building last week.

Removing the existing bridge and building the new one will take two months to complete and require closing the road, Svesnik said.

The work would be done between June and August 2013 when school is not in session. Traffic will be detoured, he said.

A traffic count found that each day 3,196 vehicles cross the busy bridge, which is near Faris Auto Body and Sales, he said.

“It gets a lot of truck traffic, too,” Svesnik said.