A project to repair and rehabilitate the 148-year-old bridge that carries Niemeyer Road over LeBoeuf Creek in Waterford Township, Erie County is slated to start at the end of the month.
The project is expected start on October 30, 2023 with the dismantling of the top portion, or superstructure, of the bridge. Work this year is expected to conclude by November 17.
The remainder of the repairs will start in April 2024 with the project expected to be completed in early October 2024.
Work will include rehabilitating the existing bridge with new abutments, I-beams and decking to upgrade the structure. Work will also include new roadway approaches, updated guiderail and pavement markings. The bridge will be repainted to restore the barn red color for which it is known.
Once work is complete, the bridge will have a 15-ton weight limit.
The bridge is located on Niemeyer Road between the intersection with East Street and the intersection with Union/Hood Road. During construction, a detour will be posted using Depot Road (Route 2006) to Donation Road (Route 1005).
The 85-foot single-lane covered bridge was built in 1875 by brothers Charles and James Phelps as a Town lattice wooden truss bridge. The trusses are comprised of crisscrossed diagonals, leading to the name lattice truss. It is one of only 19 such bridges left in Pennsylvania, and likely the only one in the northwest region. Pennsylvania is home to more than 200 covered bridges, most of which are in the southeast portion of the state. The bridge, which is also known as Brotherton's Bridge and the Old Kissing Bridge, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
The Niemeyer Road bridge is owned by Waterford Township. It is rated in poor condition and was closed to traffic in May 2011, due to safety concerns.
The contractor is Chivers Construction Company of Fairview. The contract cost is $3,473,690, which will be paid for with a combination of state and federal funds.
This project is funded in part by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). In 2023 alone, the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) is bringing approximately $23.7 million in additional funding to the northwest region to be allocated by the department and its local Metropolitan and Rural Planning Organization (MPO/RPO) partners. In the northwest region, the planning partners are the Erie Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), the Shenango Valley MPO, and the Northwest Rural Planning Organization (RPO), for projects in Crawford, Erie, Forest, Mercer, Venango and Warren counties.
For additional information on the Niemeyer Road Bridge Project go online to the PennDOT District 1 website, www.penndot.pa.gov/District1.
Motorists can check conditions on major roadways by visiting www.511PA.com. 511PA, which is free and available 24 hours a day, provides traffic delay warnings, weather forecasts, traffic speed information and access to more than 1,000 traffic cameras.
511PA is also available through a smartphone application for iPhone and Android devices, by calling 5-1-1, or by following regional X alerts accessible on the 511PA website.
Subscribe to PennDOT news and traffic alerts in Crawford, Erie, Forest, Mercer, Venango, and Warren counties at www.penndot.gov/District1.
Information about infrastructure in District 1, including completed work and significant projects, is available at www.penndot.pa.gov/D1Results. Find PennDOT's planned and active construction projects at www.projects.penndot.gov.
Follow local PennDOT news on X and like the department on Facebook.
Contact: Jill Harry, jharry@pa.gov or 814-678-5035
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