The extent of repairs here is under discussion.

SANATOGA PA – Conversations between Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township‘s engineering firm and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), over the type and urgency of repairs to a Sunnybrook Road bridge that crosses Sprogels Run, seem to be paying off.

Scott Exley, president of  Bursich Associates Inc. engineers of Sanatoga, on Monday (March 2, 2009) told the township Board of Commissioners that his staff and state representatives were discussing “ways we can keep the costs down and repairs to a minimum.”

PennDOT in early January suggested “Priority 1″ repairs – those demanding immediate attention – be made to the bridge just north of Kepler Road and slightly more than a half-mile from the intersection of Sunnybrook Road and East High Street. The agency’s chief complaint was that bridge guardrails needed fixing.

The guardrails were replaced nine years earlier, in response to what then also was a PennDOT request, and had not been cited as a problem during subsequent inspections, township Manager Rodney Hawthorne said. Repairs initially envisoned by PennDot would have cost $5,000, he estimated.

Exley indicated some repairs will inevitably be required, but likely will cost substantially less. The state wants the work completed by June.

Related:

• Township Questions State Bridge Report

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ March 2 meeting):

• Lucky Us
• Board OKs Earth Hour, Uniquely
• Township Signs TV Deal With Verizon
• Pottsgrove Welcomes Newest Office
• Fire Volunteers Train For Hazards

Sign up to get The Sanatoga Post delivered free daily by e-mail.