WESTERM PENNSYLVANIA Bridge opening ends detours, delays
The Mohawk school district was hardest hit by the span's closure.
By MARY GRZEBIENIAK
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
MOUNT JACKSON, Pa. -- The opening of the bridge over Hickory Run last Friday ended more than 11 years of delays, detours, rerouting and public safety concerns here.
The bridge, located on Mount Air Road just south of the intersection with Pa. Route 108, was closed in 1992. It connects Mount Jackson and the lower third of North Beaver Township.
Because it is a small bridge in a rural area, the state did not consider it a priority and did not release money for bridge replacement until this February when construction finally began.
Wider
John Elliott, project engineer from Pennsylvania Department of Transportation who oversaw the project, said the new $1.2 million bridge is a 34-foot-wide concrete structure. It replaced an old 18-foot-wide span which locals say was built in 1929. The daily traffic count was 1,112 vehicles before the bridge closing.
Hardest hit by the closing was the Mohawk school district, which had sent 22 buses over the bridge each day school was in session.
The closed bridge, according to Rodys Exposito, Mohawk transportation manager, meant a five-mile detour (or 10 miles round trip) for buses, resulting in increased fuel consumption, delays and increased safety concerns for children.
The district makes six runs daily, transporting high school, elementary and kindergarten separately to school then home again, and a final activity bus run for students who stay for extracurricular events.
In addition to the time squeeze caused by longer trip, Exposito said the detour made it necessary to drop students off farther from their homes on the activity run. The activity bus does not follow the regular route but has dropoff points that are fewer and farther between.
Waiting in dark
In the winter, he said, this meant students had to wait in the dark at stops which were farther from their homes for parents to pick them up.
While the detour increased fuel costs, Exposito said it is impossible to estimate the amount because the district changed over from gasoline to diesel fuel while the bridge was closed.
The bridge opening will not mean any immediate bus route changes in the coming school year, he said. At first, buses will follow the same routes as last year. Only after the number of students in various districts is determined will the routes be revamped, he said.
Fire Chief Paul Henry of the North Beaver Township Volunteer Fire Department said the bridge closing meant that fire and ambulance calls to Paden, Fullerton and McKim Roads and the lower end of Moravia Road took 10 minutes to 12 minutes longer, a significant problem in emergency response.
He said the department's Moravia station on state Route 168 assisted in helping to reach those areas more quickly and that the department was fortunate in that there was no loss of life or property because of the bridge closing.
In addition to school and emergency response concerns, residents living south of the bridge have put up with nearly 12 years of having to travel 10 extra miles every time they wanted to go to New Castle, to the drugstore, or to buy gasoline or a quart of milk.
Had to adjust
Even churchgoers had their patience tested.
Sheila Brest, secretary at Mount Jackson Presbyterian Church, which is near the bridge, said the closing affected quite a few of the church's members who live on Paden Road and found their drive to Sunday worship jumped from five minutes to 15 or 20 minutes.