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6/22/2009 5:52 PM

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Scott Beveridge

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State transportation officials are moving too quickly on replacing the historic Charleroi-Monessen Bridge, without fully considering preserving the span, the state’s preservation director claims.

Jean H. Cutler, director of the state Historical and Museum Commission’s Bureau of Historic Preservation, is requesting involvement from federal preservationists in negotiations with the state Department of Transportation in attempts to save the span from demolition.

“We are very concerned with the lack of a logically structured consultation on this project,” Cutler stated in a Monday letter to the U.S. Coast Guard, PennDOT’s lead federal agency on the bridge.

PennDOT closed the bridge Feb. 16 when inspectors found a badly deteriorating bridge connection on the Monessen side of the Monongahela River.

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The Historical and Museum Commission has a right to consult on such projects and consider a preservation plan when federal money is being spent on them, under federal and state preservation laws, because the span is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Cutler said she is unaware of any federal money being involved on the project, yet the historical consultation process started before PennDOT announced a federal partner for the job.

She said PennDOT also agreed in writing in May to comply with the consultation requirements outlined in the Federal Preservation Act, and then briefly discussed the restoration alternative without allowing time for any public comment from preservationists. PennDOT then announced last week it favored replacing the bridge in one of four new designs costing as much as $35 million.

“Therefore, because of confused use of, rushed and illogical application of ... consultation, we are requesting that the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation be a part of the consultation on this project,” Cutler stated in the letter.

The Coast Guard reacted to the letter by postponing a meeting that was scheduled between the agencies tomorrow in Charleroi.

“They were still completing a full review of Cutler’s letter,” PennDOT spokesman Jay Ofsanik said Monday.

He said PennDOT had not received the letter and had no comment on the allegations.


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