If the old adage, “better late than never,” is true, it
certainly applies to the construction of the Tuna Crossroad bridge
in Foster Township.
The bridge -ðlocated about halfway between the Bolivar Drive
bridge in Bradford and the Limestone Run bridge in Limestone, N.Y.
-ðwill connect Tuna Crossroad from Seaward Avenue to East Main
Street when completed.
The old Tuna Crossroad bridge was closed to traffic in the late
1960s or early 1970s, Foster Township Supervisors chairman Robert
Slike Jr. said Tuesday, because it had been deemed unsafe.
“It was made (in places) with wooden planks,” Slike said, “and
they were decaying.” Even after it was shut down, though, he added,
some township residents still used it as a footbridge and for their
all-terrain vehicles and snowmobiles “but not with our (the
supervisors’) blessing.”
That activity went on up until about seven or eight years ago,
he said, when officials actually blocked the bride off altogether
and then took it down.
“We had to (take it down),” Slike said. “It was definitely
unsafe.”
After that, the bridge was placed on the Pennsylvania Department
of Transportation’s 12-year plan for reconstruction.
“We had been on that plan for awhile,” Slike said, adding the
project “finally came up for construction” this year.
After many delays in the application and design phases, Foster
Township engineer Roy Pedersen of E&M Engineering announced at
the regular May meeting of the supervisors that the project would
soon go out to bid, and construction would start this summer.
The $1.9 million project was awarded to Mekis Construction Corp.
shortly thereafter. The federal government is footing 80 percent of
the bill; the state, 15 percent; and Foster Township, 5 percent, or
about $95,000.
Pedersen said construction on the new bridge got underway in
early July, with crews starting to drive piling, which he said is
the “first step.”
He went on to say there will eventually be two 100-foot long
spans, a pier in the middle of the stream (Tunungwant Creek) and a
sidewalk on one side of the bridge.
“They’re hoping to get beams set before they have to shut down
for the winter,” Pedersen said, “and then will finish it up next
year” in the early spring.
The design process alone took about three years, he added. He
explained PennDOT’s 12-year plan is actually broken into three
four-year segments, and that sometimes a project can held up
between those segments.
“It did languish at the back of line for a while,” he said.
“It’s going to be a real nice thing for the residents in that
area,” Slike said, adding recent work at the Foster Township park
and ball field will soon attract more traffic in that area.
“And should anything (an emergency) happen, now there are two
ways into the park,” Slike added.
He went on to say the re-opening of the bridge will detract from
the traffic now on Bolivar Drive, as well as make a crossing for
the Tuna Valley Trails system.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Slike said. “It’s another one we
can check off the list.”
Supervisor Chris Wolcott said “I think it (the completion of the
bridge) will help with the development of another branch of the
park … and as an enhancement to the (TVTA) trails there, too.”
Supervisor Cary Kaber was not immediately available for comment
Tuesday night.
