Skippack Creek Bridge To Close For Repairs

LOWER SALFORD PA – Construction to rehabilitate the structurally-deficient bridge that carries Old Forty Foot Road over a branch of Skippack Creek, in Lower Salford and Towamencin townships, is scheduled to begin Oct. 30 (2017; Monday), and be completed by June 2018, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation announced.

The 8-month bridge repair will require closing Old Forty Foot Road, and detouring traffic between Township Line Road and Kober Road. Drivers will be re-routed over Sumneytown Pike, Bustard Road and Route 73, the agency said. Local access will be maintained up to the construction zone.

PennDOT contractor J.D. Eckman Inc. of Atglen PA will rehabilitate the stone masonry arch bridge by reinforcing the walls and barrier, repointing masonry of the arch barrel and support abutments, and replacing guiderail.

Drivers are advised to allow extra time when traveling through the area. It warned slowdowns will occur. The bridge work schedule will depend on the weather, it added.

Built in 1840 and rehabilitated in 1930, the one-span structure is 11 feet long and 31 feet wide, and has a posted weight limit of 10 tons. The structure carries an average of 5,846 vehicles a day.

It is one of nine bridges in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties that PennDOT is repairing under a $7.4 million project financed by the state transportation plan. Also included in bridges to be repaired under the project is the Ridge Pike span over Perkiomen Creek in Collegeville Borough and Lower Providence Township.

Photo from Google Images