County to transfer ownership of 2 bridges to township

NORRISTOWN >> Montgomery County will be handing over ownership of two of its bridges to Douglass Township, the county commissioners decided have decided. In a measure that passed 3-0, the commissioners voted to transfer ownership of the Paper Mill Road Bridge and the Henry Road Bridge to the township, once the bridges are rehabilitated.

“The township has already executed their portion of the documents and is in full favor of this passing,” said Chris Smith, director of Assets and Infrastructure for the county.

The county hands ownership of bridges to municipalities when there is a difference of opinion over how the bridge should be handled, Smith explained.

“They want to keep the bridge open, whereas it might not be in the county’s best interest to do that because it is such a low average daily travel over the bridge. So we work with the township to compromise and say we’ll fix it up for you guys and you guys can maintain it so that you keep the bridges open,” Smith said. “We’re not responsible for maintaining it in the future, which is a huge cost savings to us.”

The ownership will switch over to Douglass Township once the bridges are renovated up to PennDOT standards. “This is in keeping with what we’ve done with other bridges,” said Josh Shapiro, commissioner chairman. “We work with the municipality, they want to take over the bridge, but it’s our responsibility to get it up to standards.”