Union County, PennDOT planning work on four bridges

Justin Strawser, The Daily Item, Sunbury, Pa.
·4 min read

Feb. 8—LEWISBURG — Union County and PennDOT plan to spend an estimated $4.7 million on four bridges using federal, state and local funds.

At Tuesday's public meeting, the Union County commissioners approved a series of agenda items to use Liquid Fuel Funds toward these projects. The bridges in question are Old Mill Road in Gregg Township, Covered Bridge Road in Hartley Township, Supplee Mill Road in East Buffalo Township and Trails End Road in Hartley Township.

"Each year the county and all municipalities that own bridges and/or roads receive an allocation of liquid fuels funds from the commonwealth of Pa.," said Shawn McLaughlin, planning and economic development director. "The liquid fuels program requires year-end reporting to account for all revenues and expenditures in the prior year and there has to be a spending plan for the remaining balance in the fund. That is where encumbrances come into play. They are used by the county to show PennDOT what our plan is for using the money."

The first project phase of the Old Mill Road bridge, which spans White Deer Hole Creek, is in preliminary engineering design to be rehabilitated or replaced. McLaughlin said $100,000 had been previously encumbered but PennDOT has pushed the project out on the SEDA-COG Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) so the county reduced the amount of the encumbrance by $50,000.

At this point, pre-construction work, or preliminary engineering, is scheduled on the new draft SEDA-COG TIP for 2025, but as always it is subject to change. Construction dollars are programmed for 2028, said McLaughlin.

PennDOT has just over $2,000,000 allocated on the draft TIP at this point: $1.5 million for construction and the remainder for preliminary and final engineering design, right-of-way acquisition, utility relocation, and construction inspection, said McLaughlin.

The historic Covered Bridge Road bridge over Penns Creek, which has been closed for several years, will be rehabilitated or repaired, said McLaughlin.

"Preliminary engineering is getting underway now," he said "Notices were recently sent to adjacent landowners informing them of the project. Construction is currently programmed on the PennDOT TIP for 2027."

PennDOT has $2.6 million allocated to this project on the TIP for all phases: $2.25 million for construction and the remainder for engineering design, right of way, utility relocation, and construction inspection. These costs will become more refined as the design process proceeds, said McLaughlin.

For both bridges on Old Mill Road and Covered Bridge Road, the county bridge engineer Larson Design Group will handle preliminary and final engineering design and construction inspection. Construction work will be bid through PennDOT's Electronic Construction Management System and a private contractor with the lowest responsible bid will be awarded the work, said McLaughlin.

Funding for both projects will be 80 percent federal, 15 percent state and 5 percent local. The county's local share will be paid out of the liquid fuels fund account. No county general fund dollars will be used.

The two bridges on Supplee Mill Road, which spans Turtle Creek, and Trails End Road, which spans Penns Creek, will have epoxy overlay to preserve the existing concrete decks. The decks are starting to show minor longitudinal cracking. The epoxy treatment will seal those cracks and prevent water from penetrating the deck, said McLaughlin.

The work is expected to be done this summer, he said.

"A private contractor will do the work," said McLaughlin. "We intend to issue a bid advertisement in the coming weeks and the commissioners will award it to the lowest responsible bidder. The way prices have been the last few years it is somewhat unknown until the bids come in. We think the total cost for construction and engineering services will be between $70,000 to $100,000."

Since this is a maintenance project it will be 100 percent funded with county liquid fuels funds. Again no county general fund dollars will be needed, said McLaughlin.

Furthermore, the county had encumbered funds years ago for concrete work on various bridges. It has not been used since McLaughlin took over bridge management. The action on Tuesday was to unencumber the funds so they could be used elsewhere.