Work starts on Caldwell Avenue bridge
For more than seven years, Canton Township fire Chief Dave Gump and other firefighters living on the eastern side of Chartiers Creek have had to take a two-mile trek to get to the fire station on Weirich Avenue.
But that detour and years of frustration are coming to an end. Work to replace the structurally deficient single span steel bridge with a box beam structure began earlier this month. J.F. Shea Construction was awarded the contract for the $1.094 million project.
“Finally. It has been a long time coming,” Gump said after learning work had started on the bridge. “I am truly happy. When the bridge is back open, I will be able to be there in a minute.”
“Now maybe we can start beating our four-minute light and getting our response time back,” he said, explaining the light is turned on when the firefighters’ pagers are activated for a call. The light goes out after four minutes. “The only time we beat the light any more is if we happen to already be sitting in the station.”
To say that getting to this point has been a long journey could be an understatement as plans for the bridge replacement began almost two decades ago.
“The first design contract for the bridge was in 1995,” said Lisa Cessna, executive director of the Washington Planning Commission.
But before the project got started, it became tied to the remedial work being done at the former Molycorp site to remove low-level radioactive material. When the remedial work was done, the area still had to be tested. Cessna said getting the necessary clearances from the federal government was a drawn-out process.
Even as work began, an area of some concern was found on the western side of the bridge that halted work for a few days. Cessna said the radiation levels were a little higher than expected, but it was nothing out of the ordinary.
Larry Maggi, chairman of the Washington County board of commissioners, acknowledged the public safety concerns.
“But the bridge had to be done right,” Maggi said. “We didn’t want to spend money on the bridge and then have to take it back out because of contamination. But I think we are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.”
Although it is a county-owned bridge, Cessna said the project is totally funded by the state. She said the county is working closely with the state on the project. Chevron, which now owns the Molycorp site, also has been working with county officials. The bridge is expected to open in late spring or early summer of 2014.