Bridge project delayed
It looks like it will be at least another three years before construction begins on replacing the Keim Street bridge.
The update was revealed by Kenneth Lawrence, vice chairman of the Montgomery County Commissioners, during a visit by all three commissioners June 13 as part of their annual series of town hall-type meetings.
Closed in 2010 after being declared structurally unsound, the call for a new bridge has been the subject of petitions and seemingly endless complaints on social media.
When the county commissioners visited Pottstown in 2016 in a similar forum, Commissioner Val Arkoosh, then the board’s vice chairman, said that preliminary design was ongoing into 2017, which would be followed by final design and permitting and right of way acquisition in 2018.
“Construction will be starting in 2019 and it will take 18 months to build,” Arkoosh said last year.
“At least we can give you dates that are real now,” she told the 2016 audience. “The bridge will
open some time in 2020, we can say with a fair degree of certainty at this point.”
Flash forward one year and things are less certain.
Lawrence said preliminary design work is still going on, which must then be followed by the final design, permitting and right of way acquisition.
As a result, construction will not begin until sometime in 2020 and, presuming the 18-month estimate is still accurate, means the bridge will not open until 2021 — 11 years after it was closed.
“Unfortunately, this is the prime example of what happens when you don’t invest in infrastructure, when you’re not doing the repairs that are needed, when you’re not doing the inspections, you end up with a situation where there is a bridge that’s closed and not planned for and the county did not have the resources to replace it,” said Lawrence.
One way those resources are now being provided, said Lawrence, is the $5 fee the commissioners tacked onto vehicle registrations last year.
“The money goes directly back to Montgomery County and can only be used on roads and bridges in Montgomery County,” Lawrence said. “That is what allows us to have 34 active bridge projects in the county right now and is allowing us to fast-forward some of the work that needs to be done.”
One of the things that makes the project a slow one is that fact that 80 percent of the cost is being shouldered by the federal government.
“And the federal rule book is a pretty thick one, particularly when it applies to historic bridges,” Arkoosh said last year.
Another 15 percent of the cost, which has yet to be formally estimated, is being covered by the state and Chester and Montgomery County are splitting the remaining 5 percent, although not evenly.
Montgomery County is paying more.
“I know its probably not fast enough for people who have to deal with it, but hopefully, with smart planning, we can make sure this kind of thing doesn’t happen again,” Lawrence said.
“I know it’s probably not fast enough for people who have to deal with it, but hopefully, with smart planning, we can make sure this kind of thing doesn’t happen again.” Kenneth Lawrence, Vice Chairman of Montgomery County Commissioners