How will a new bridge make driving safer in part of Jefferson Township?

Vehicle traffic and aquatic life will be able to freely and safely cross a section of Shaffer Run Road in Jefferson Township, once a new bridge that’s under construction is completed.

Township supervisors Lee Fritz, Dave Pyle and Dennis Troup and several township employees have been working over the last four weeks to take out a single pipe culvert stream crossing along Shafer Run. In place of the culvert, the township is installing a bridge made of galvanized steel beams and a treated wooden deck across the stream.

'No more worries'

This culvert was the most troublesome of five stream crossings along Shaffer Run Road that the supervisors hope to eventually replace, Pyle said.

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“All the residents will be glad whenever it’s done,” he said. “In heavy rains, this is our problem child up in here. One year, (the township) spent $40,000 just to correct (the crossing) so traffic could get in and out after (the road) washed out. That was just Band-Aiding it all the time.

“It wasn’t safe to drive (through) here when it flooded. (The bridge) is going to make passage through here a lot safer.”

Looking over the beams laid out across the stream, Fritz added that the steel beams are anchored into a total of 70 yards of concrete on both sides of the bridge.

"This bridge isn’t going anywhere,” he said. “No more worries.”

Shafer Run — a tributary to Laurel Hill Creek — is also active with native and stocked species of trout, as well as other aquatic life. The old culvert pipe blocked the way for fish and aquatic life trying to migrate upstream, but the new bridge crossing removes that obstruction, Pyle said.

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Saving taxpayers money

The $225,000 estimated cost of the bridge project is being funded with a $145,000 grant from the State Conservation Commission through the Dirt, Gravel and Low Volume Road Maintenance Program, said Terry Tallion, dirt and gravel road technician for the Somerset Conservation District. Jefferson Township is providing the equipment and labor to complete the project.

The township’s grant request was originally approved for the 2021 construction season, but delays in getting permits from the state Department of Environmental Protection to work in Shafer Run and acquiring the materials for the bridge pushed the project back to this fall.

“This will save the (Jefferson Township) residents money in the long run, having this done — and with Dirt and Gravel being as gracious as they were on all this, it wouldn’t have been possible without them,” Pyle said.

“It’s always good to go after any grants you know of that saves the taxpayers money. We’re doing the best we can for them here. These days, you’ve got to stretch a dollar as far as you can.”

Pyle said the township supervisors may replace a few more crossings along Shafer Run next year, if permitting and other variables are worked out in time.

“We would like to do another one or two next year,” he said. “We would like to do (more) next year if it’s going to be possible, but we don’t know if it will be possible or not.”

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How to apply for funding

The Somerset Conservation District provides technical assistance to all municipalities in Somerset County who want to submit a Dirt, Gravel and Low Volume Road Maintenance Program grant application for consideration. A low volume road carries less than 500 vehicles per day.

“Any township or municipality is eligible to apply, but someone from the municipality has to take ESM training (an Environmentally Sensitive Maintenance course from Penn State University’s Center for Dirt and Gravel Road Studies),” Tallion said.

For more information on the grant program, contact Tallion at 814-289-4251 or terry-scd@wpia.net.

This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Jefferson Township Supervisors in Somerset County install a new bridge