SHARON County: Bridge plan is needed

Workers were at the bridge Monday and Tuesday preparing to tear it down.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
SHARON, Pa. -- Mercer County's bridge engineer said the Oakland Avenue Viaduct contractor can do all the cleanup it wants around the structure, but it can't begin dismantling any structural steel without state approval first.
Carmen Paliotta Contracting Inc. of Library, Pa., informed the county Nov. 7 that it would tear down the partially finished bridge, find the problem causing a misalignment, correct it and then re-assemble the structure.
The company said it would start the work Monday unless it heard otherwise from the county, and workers did show up Monday and Tuesday to begin some general cleanup work in preparation for the dismantling.
Mark Miller, Mercer County bridge engineer, said the county and the state sent Paliotta a letter Friday telling the company that it can do some limited work around the bridge, short of actually dismantling any structural steel.
The letter said the company must have a dismantling-and- reconstruction plan approved by the state before such work begins, Miller said.
Attorney's response
Atty. D. Matthew Jameson III, representing Paliotta, said the county letter is being reviewed and Paliotta will issue a response. He gave no timetable for that action.
The $3.6 million bridge replacement project was to be completed in November 2001, but the county, which owns the bridge, halted work on the job that month after learning there was a misalignment problem that gave the structure a slight "S" shape.
Authorities said the problem was traced to the eight concrete bridge pedestals which aren't level with each other, causing the misalignment.
Efforts to come up with an acceptable corrective action plan since work stopped have been unsuccessful. Paliotta, expressing frustration with trying to get state and county approval for such a plan, decided it would tear the bridge down, correct the problem and rebuild it, a process that could take about two months.
The county has said Paliotta can do that, with an acceptable plan of action, but that any expense incurred will be Paliotta's to bear.
Paliotta has said the issue of paying for the extra work will likely be decided in court.
The county owns the bridge but has no money in the project. The federal government is putting up 80 percent, while the state is putting up the rest and overseeing the work.
Paliotta has already been paid $2.9 million for work done so far.
gwin@vindy.com