Bid awarded for Congo Road bridge replacement
DOUGLASS (MONT.) >> PennDOT has awarded a $1.27 million contract to H&K Group Inc. of Skippack to replace the bridge that carries Congo Road over Middle Creek.
Due to the nature of the repairs, the bridge will be closed and detoured to traffic during construction.
Congo Road motorists will be directed to follow the posted detour route.
Work on this project is expected to finish in fall 2022.
Under this contract, PennDOT will remove and replace the existing twospan reinforced concrete slab bridge, built in 1923, with a single-span prestressed spread box beam bridge.
A portion of the replacement structure will be set
aside for a future pedestrian/bicycle trail which Douglass Township indicated it hopes to construct in the future. A 10-foot-wide pathway will be provided crossing the bridge, separated from traffic by a concrete barrier and rail.
The proposed “CongoGilbertsville Trail” is on the Douglass Township Open Space Plan and is intended to connect to a future countywide trail system and connect to the “Middle Creek Trail” that is planned to run along Middle
Creek.
At the township’s request, the extra width to accommodate the trail will be provided at the upstream side of the bridge so that a connection to the township open space can be made.
Township Supervisors made the decision back in 2014 that they would take over maintenance of the bridge in exchange for including the passage for the as-yet unbuilt trail.
PennDOT agreed to replace the bridge but said it would only add the trail passageway if the township agreed to take over ownership, and thus maintenance responsibility, of the bridge.
The supervisors at the
time, John Stasik, Anthony Kuklinski and Fred Ziegler, unanimously agreed to do so.
That was the recommendation of the township’s open space committee whose chairman at the time was Josh Stouch, who is now the chairman of the township board of supervisors.
John Sartor, the township engineer at the time, said the bridge’s lifespan would be 80 to 100 years and that maintenance costs would not begin to come about for at least 10 years.