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Politics & Government

Closed Pineville Road Bridge at Issue

The bridge is set to be rebuilt next year. Residents raised questions about its design to Buckingham supervisors.

Construction on the closed Pineville Road bridge is planned to start next year.

The cost: an estimated $1.2 million.

The bridge, in disrepair, has been closed since 2007.

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A group of about 30 residents came before supervisors Wednesday to hear an update on the project.

The 90-minute presentation, to allow residents to comment on bridge design elements submitted by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, turned heated at times.

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Following input from residents, the township has been working with PennDOT to erect a bridge that keeps “in character with the pastoral surroundings” of the township, said township manager Dana Cozza, who oversaw the presentation.

The township had been able to secure a slot on the Commonwealth’s Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), which would aid in funding for the bridge project.

Cozza showed proposed designs of the bridge, located along Pineville Road between New Hope and Stony Hill roads.

While PennDOT is overseeing the design and construction, once completed, the bridge would be turned back to township ownership.

The footprint will remain virtually the same as the current design, which is concrete. Technically two lanes, the bridge will remain 20 feet wide.

The bridge was closed because it started to erode and became a danger.

In an effort to quash any minimalistic concrete and steel designs that residents thought would look out of place in the rural community, PennDOT submitted designs using a façade of two types of stones labeled New Hope and Wrightstown, as well as three colors for concrete beams that will be placed under the bridge – a terra cotta color, an olive green and brown.

The railing on the bridge itself was proposed to have a weathered steel coating that looks like rust.

Many of the comments centered on the guide rail that would be on approach of either side of the bridge.

Some audience members complained that the presentation didn’t include pictures of what the approach would look like – only a side view of the bridge.

Resident Jeffrey Chodorow, whose property is adjacent to one of the approaches, was concerned about PennDOT’s requirement of the length of the guide rails, which he said would extend almost to his driveway.

“I don’t mind the bridge, but the guide rail is too long,” he said.

PennDOT has four lengths of guide rail, the longest being 125 feet approaching the bridge.

The length of the guide rails in the current design was done according to standards issued by PennDOT, said Cozza.

Supervisor Henry Rowan criticized PennDOT’s design standards. A stark concrete and steel replacement for the Red Hill Road bridge in Tinicum Township was a case in point. “Right now they’re dealing with a standard that can be pretty offensive,” he said.

Chodorow asked that PennDOT also be required to replant trees that it takes down in constructing the bridge.

In an effort to keep to the timetable, supervisor chairman Jon Forest suggested that the closed bridge was a public safety issue.

Hugh Hager, Midway Fire Co. chief, supported Forest’s concern.

In responding to a recent house fire on Stony Hill Road, emergency responders were delayed by five minutes because the bridge was closed.

“Five minutes makes a difference – if a home burns or doesn’t burn, somebody lives or dies. I have to get fire trucks up and down that road, and that’s crucial,” Hager said.

The township will contact PennDOT with concerns about the trees and guide-rail lengths.

Also, township officials said they would post the proposed design and choices of stone and concrete beam colors on the township’s website.

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