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Pocono News Section
Community Block Grant Funds to be Used for Bridge Repairs
Community Block Grant Funds to be Used for Bridge Repairs - Friday, September 14, 2007 at 2:57PM EST
Reported by: David DeCosmo
Friday, Sep 14, 2007 @02:57pm EST
SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY- The City of Scranton
is trying to improve the safety of its bridges and is hoping to use grant money
in order to do that.
Drivers who usually use the Parker Street Bridge in Scranton had to get use to a detour last year
when levy improvement work shut the span for a time. But that work had nothing
to do with the bridge itself which has been deteriorating for many years. There's
already a 5 ton weight limit on the bridge and Scranton Department of Public
Works Director Jeff Brazil said additional restrictions may be needed.
He explained “We may, in the future,
cut it down to one lane just to help the stress on the lower portions of the
bridge."
Brazil said the city's long range plan is
to repair the bridge. The plan is to use $70,000 in Community Block Grant money
to determine exactly what has to be done and begin the design work on the small
bridge.
"It's a small span but people use
it as a shortcut between Green Ridge and North Main Avenue and all the way up by the View Mont
mall" continued Brazil.
Although most vehicles can use the
bridge, a lot of trucks can't and that's causing some problems for a manufacturing
plant that's on one side of the span.
Brigitte Reach of Advanced Textile Composites
stated "We have a lot of truck deliveries that come through here, over
that bridge. Now they're going to have to find a different route to get here
because of the weight restriction. I'm sure the trucks are over the weight
limit."
The City of Scranton is conducting regular inspections
of all of its bridges. One replacement project involving the Crisp Avenue Bridge, which was washed out last year, has
already been approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
There's no word on exactly when the
repair work will begin on the Parker Street Bridge.
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