New bridge on its way to Arch Street

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The shadow of the Minneapolis bridge collapse in 2007 is a contributing factor to a federal release of $30 million for a new Arch Street bridge.

The new Arch Street bridge will be constructed upstream from the current span and because of funding restrictions, money for the project will focus solely on the replacement.

Chris Mileto, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation project manager, told a group of 100 people attending the informational meeting at DuBoistown Fire Hall that another string attached to the federal monies is the state Department of Transportation has to put bids out for the project by May 2010, or the department will lose the funding.

In May, the Federal Highway Administration released $1.5 million to PennDOT to cover preliminary engineering costs.

Engineering firms looked at three possible locations for the bridge - upstream, downstream and on point, which is where the current bridge is located.

The firms decided that upstream would be the best position for the bridge because it would be the least expensive, would give residents the least amount of detours and would lead to the least amount of issues when it came to relocating utilities associated with the bridge.

The Arch Street bridge project was not originally included in the Williamsport Area Transportation Study Transportation Improvement Program, PennDOT's 12-year program for federal and state transportation funding in Lycoming County.

The project was not being considered due to its cost. WATS receives about $5.5 million per year in bridge funding out of about about $16.5 million in state and federal transportation funding, so it would take about two year's worth of all the bridge money for Lycoming County to fund the project.

But as a result of the of the Minneapolis bridge collapse, which killed 13 and injured scores more, Congress approved an additional $1 billion nationwide in funding for bridges classified as "structurally deficient" and not included on the transportation improvement plan.

The funding is limited to replacement or rehabilitation of the existing bridge and cannot be used for projects such as roadway improvements or relocations, a PennDOT news release said.

The Arch Street bridge was one of five bridges in the state submitted to the Federal Highway Administration for the funding.

The project currently is in the preliminary phase of the design process.

The old Arch Street bridge will be used to carry traffic while the new bridge is being built, but while the abutments are being built, there will be a 6- to 9-month detour in place, Mileto said.

The detour will use the Maynard Street bridge and will direct traffic to Third and Fourth streets in downtown Williamsport.

Mileto said because the project is still in the design phases, when the detour would begin or end remains uncertain.

A problem the project may face is inflation in the construction industry. This year inflation has been at a high of 25 to 30 percent and the project estimates factor for a 4- to 8-percent inflation increase each year, Eric High, PennDOT district 3-0 assistant district executive of design, said.

"Lycoming County is committed to getting this project done so we don't lose the $30 million," Mark Murawski, Lycoming County transportation planner, said. "If they run into a shortfall to do the basic work, the county is going to everything we can to get that money in place to get the basic work done."

Residents attending the meeting seemed to be satisfied with PennDOT's presentation. "It was well explained to us really well," Joyce DeWald, a DuBoistown resident, said.