Crews complete bridge repairs

MATHER – Construction crews last week finished the work to repair the Pollocks Mill Bridge that partially collapsed in September 2014 after an overweight water tanker attempted to cross it.
Greene County Chief Clerk Jeff Marshall said now that the work is complete, the county is preparing to hire an independent engineer to make a final safety check before reopening the bridge later this month.
“All of the work is done, and we think everything is ready to go,” Marshall said. “We just need a third party to come in and say everything’s ready.”
The engineering study will be conducted after the current round of snowy weather moves through the region.
Work began in September and was originally expected to take two months, but the completion date was pushed back when crews learned they could reuse some of the old materials to save money on the project. Recycling those parts allowed the crews to add “rub rails” to each side that narrowed the width of the bridge slightly, but will offer more protection to both the span and vehicles, Marshall said.
The project also added clearance height warning bars to prevent large trucks from crossing.
“The new clearance sign looks like what you have in a parking garage, where it’s something you would hit before (entering),” Marshall said. “It’s in the truck driver’s line of sight so they realize they can’t drive across the bridge.”
Those two features added some costs, Marshall said, but that was offset by refabricating some of the metal parts, which is expected to allow the project to come about $15,000 under its estimated price. Workers added new wooden boards to the bridge’s surface to improve stability.
The bridge’s weight restriction will remain at 4 tons, the same level it was before the partial collapse.
The bridge near Mather that crosses Ten Mile Creek between Morgan and Jefferson townships partially collapsed Sept. 28, 2014, when a Buccaneer Enterprises truck attempted to cross it. The truck weighed about 16.5 tons and was hauling freshwater to an EQT well site when it partially fell through the deck.
The Greene County commissioners voted in July to pay $395,630 to Carmen Paliotta Contracting of South Park to repair the bridge. That was about $100,000 more than original engineering estimates, and the sum was about $150,000 more than what the county received from a settlement with the trucking company responsible for the damage.
EQT also gave $75,000 to the county last year to help bridge the gap between the settlement and construction costs.