Haines and Kibblehouse work crews started repair work on the Randall Avenue Bridge last weekend with more work scheduled to continue this weekend.
Bristol Township Manager Township Randee Mazur at last weeks council meeting said, she had her “fingers crossed” the scheduled work would begin. She confirmed the work did in fact begin over the past weekend in an e mail exchange Monday.
“Work commenced on the bridge the weekend of July 19th. Demolition of the concrete began. Concrete demo went slower than expected due to steel wires running through and adjacent to the floor-beams of the bridge under the concrete encasement. These wires were unknown to us prior to the Contractor beginning to remove the concrete and required extra time to complete the demo work as they had to demo around these steel wires. The work is scheduled to resume this Friday, July 26-28,” reads a post on the township website.
The work timetable was delayed due to Amtrak Northeast Corridor rail line complications. The rail lines are also used by SEPTA, and freight carriers.
Township Manager Randee Mazur said last month said, that the first portion of the repairs are expected to be completed later this summer however due to the Amtrak related delays and steel wires located by the site contractor the anticipated project end date -by summers end- could be delayed also.
Credit: Bristol Township
The original work schedule was as follows:
6/21/24 to 6/24/24 – 55-Hour Outage on Track 4 with nighttime outage on Track 3
6/28/24 to 7/1/24 – 55 Hour Outage on Track 3 with nighttime outage on Track 2
7/12/24 to 7/15/24 – 55 Hour Outage on Track 2 with nighttime outage on Track 3
7/26/24 to 7/29/24 – 55 Hour Outage on Track 1 with nighttime outage on Track 2
The township received $975,000 from PennDOT for abutment repairs, but after concrete began falling onto the rail lines below, PennDOT approved redirecting the funds to address the more immediate safety concerns.
An additional $2 million in state grant money has since been allocated to complete abutment work for the 169-foot bridge.
Township officials continue to seek grants and funding for the design and construction of a new bridge saying such an undertaking would cost millions.
The bridge was closed a little more than 17 months ago on an emergency basis due to debris falling onto the tracks below.
Credit: Bristol Twp