Part of Masontown Bridge to open next week
CARMICHAELS – If everything goes as planned, motorist on Route 21 will be crossing the Monongahela River on the completed first half of the new Masontown Bridge next Tuesday.
The new section has been built next to the old bridge, a structure that has been in use for 88 years and that will now be dismantled to make room for construction of the second half of the new bridge.
Traffic will be switched to the new bridge Tuesday, “barring any enormous weather event,” said Dominec Caruso, project manager for the state Department of Transportation. “I really don’t foresee any issues,” he added.
Once traffic is shifted to the new bridge, work will begin dismantling the old bridge. After the deck and other parts of the old structure have been removed, the metal frame will be dropped into the river by a controlled explosion, Caruso said.
PennDOT is not sure exactly how long it might take before the structure is ready for the explosion, but Caruso said it could be within the next two months. Notice will be given several weeks prior to the event.
The contractor on the $49.6-million bridge replacement project, Brayman Construction Co., has already begun work on the river caissons to set the foundations for the river piers for the second half of the bridge.
Caruso said the project has proceeded without any major problems. The project is about a month behind schedule for various reasons, but the contractor has been working additional shifts to catch up, he said..
Replacing the bridge had been recommended by a 2000 transportation study that focused on improvements to the Route 21 corridor between Waynesburg and Uniontown.
It was determined a new bridge was needed because of the age and the design of the existing structure, as well as the increased traffic on Route 21, according to the study.
Local elected officials for years pushed for the project’s funding because of the road’s importance as the main traffic corridor between Waynesburg and Uniontown.
The existing bridge was built in the early 1920s and was dedicated as the “Inter-county Bridge” in 1925. The 1,450-foot long bridge is considered “substandard” in width, being only 24 feet wide with no shoulder.
The new bridge will be 1,700 feet long and will be slightly higher than the existing structure. It will have two 12-foot travel lanes in each direction, two 8-foot outside shoulders, inside shoulders and a median. The project also will involve the reconstruction of the approach road to the bridge.
Brayman began work on the project early last year. The new bridge is expected to be complete in late 2014.