Storm Aftermath: Avoid Two Perkiomen Creek Bridges

UPPER SALFORD PA – Drivers looking to reach Upper Salford or Lower Frederick townships, who are accustomed to crossing the Perkiomen Creek toward either by way of bridges on Salford Station or Hendricks Station roads, likely will want to find other routes for the near future.

The bridges sustained significant damage due to flooding caused by Tropical Storm Ida. Both roads are among more than 30 state highways across the five-county Philadelphia region with portions that will remain closed until they are declared safe to re-open, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation said Friday (Sept. 3, 2021) afternoon.

Approaching the Salford Station Road bridge, a huge slab of asphalt that was ripped up by Ida stands on its edge (above), leaning against a guard rail. The adjacent remainder of the two-lane highway (at top) is busted and buckled like a motocross track.

At Hendricks Station Road (below) the highway has been wiped away, as if Ida decided erasing it was easier than going over or around it.

Lower Frederick Township Manager Mark Hudson believes it could be some time before either bridge is passable.

With residents’ and travelers’ safety in mind, Hudson indicated in a Friday e-mail that Lower Frederick hopes to create public awareness about the problem. “We would like to try to keep people from driving down these roads,” he wrote, to avoid having them be “turned around at the bridges.”

Photos supplied by Lower Frederick Township