Local Government – Bristol Township
Council Approves Grant App. for Maple Beach Replacement Bridge and Flood Study; Awards Lighting Panel Upgrade Contract
Bristol Borough is continuing its push to find funding to replace the shuttered Maple Street Road Bride and continued infrastructure improvements.
In a late agenda item addition the Borough Council voted to approve submitting applications for a disaster relief grant under the FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Program
The program is a sustainable action that reduces or eliminates long-term risk to people and property from future disasters.
The bridge which was constructed over Otter Creek in 1915, and is now closed to vehicle and pedestrian traffic, although locals still use it, connects the borough and the Maple Beach section of Bristol Township.
If replaced, a bridge could allow easier access to the borough water treatment plant and public works buildings, plus potentially easing traffic flow on Old Rt 13, which experiences heavy traffic flow during rush hours and for major borough related events.
Borough Manager Jim Dillon said additional projects are associated with the application besides hoping to be granted $700,000.00 for a replacement bridge. Namely $55 K for a Green Lane flood study and to obtain funds for a home damaged on Cedar Street during last years flooding.
Credit: Bristol Borough Fire Police
Residents have long complained about flooding on Green Lane. Its one of the first areas to flood inland during heavy rain fall.
The Borough received a grant for slightly less $344 K from Bucks County in 2017 to improve access to the bridge area for pedestrians. No word on whether those funds are still available or were used, considering the current conditions in the area surrounding the bridge.
Council approved the resolution unanimously
In a unrelated infrastructure effort Council awarded a contract to G & G Electrical in the amount of $24,059,38 for upgrades to the Mill St St Parking Lot lighting panel. That work along with the current construction taking place at the lot, officials hope, will be completed by the beginning of the outdoor festival season that brings thousands to the Borough.
The second electrical project proposed, originally scheduled to be voted on for borough tunnel street lighting, was put on hold, Dillon said because other options are being weighed.
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At last weeks Bristol Township Council meeting members granted preliminary and final land development approval to AMERCO Real Estate Company, the real estate arm of U Haul, for a project that has been in process for years.
The company is set to expand its operations at the former Bristol Plaza shopping center.
The approved plan consists of the construction of an 18,000-square-foot warehouse and relocation of an existing 1,000-square-foot storage facility building.
A U-Haul representative said, “This is something we’ve been working on since 2021,”
The project, which is entirely within the parking lot of the Durham Road shopping center, is designed to expand U-Hauls’ storage capabilities and buttress its existing corporate operations at the site.
U-Haul scaled back some elements of its original proposal officials said. Removed from the original plan was canopy and the company did away with a “phase two” expansion that would have added a 5,000-square-foot structure.
Company officials focused on “greening up” the property, which sits at the heavily trafficked intersection of Durham Road, Bath Road, and Veterans Highway (Route 413). U-Haul plans to install interior landscaping and a row of trees to screen back end operations and storage areas from motorists on Durham Road.
“We’re going to be greening it up,” the representative explained. “We’re going to also be doing some interior landscaping at the site so that some kind of back of house operations are not going to be visible.”
U-Haul also agreed to limit the number of branded vehicles parked along the Durham Road frontage, at the request of township officials.
Parking space was reduced to six from the original 11 planned. six. The remaining vehicles will serve as advertising for the company.
The development previously received variance approvals from the Bristol Township Zoning Hearing Board in June and a recommendation for approval from the township’s planning commission.
U-Haul purchased the Bristol Plaza property in 2016 and moved its corporate printing operation to the site in 2017, according to township records.
Rendering from above U Haul Site in Bristol Twp of what the project will look like when completed Credit: YouTube screengrab
Days after the Randall Avenue Bridge reopened, having been closed for just under three years, Lower Bucks Source asked Bristol Township Manager Randee Mazur what’s next now that the span has reopened.
“A Haines Road Bridge” she said.
This wasn’t the first time the idea of constructing a new bridge in the Edgely section had been mentioned by township officials.
Mazur and Council President Craig Bowen mentioned the idea during Council meetings last year.
At last week’s Council meeting, the township said it was now ready to fully explore the possibility of constructing a span crossing over the railway lines on Haines Road leading onto Radcliffe Street, essentially parallel to the Randall Ave. Bridge.
Officials said exploring the idea might be a more suitable and safer long-term solution considering current weight restrictions and past structural issues with the Randall Ave. Bridge.
Mazur said the township is looking into the feasibility of a new bridge connecting Haines Road and Radcliffe Street.
Signage posted on Radcliffe St in Bristol Township warning motorists of weight restrictions on the Randall Ave Bridge
Credit: Jeff Bohen, Lower Bucks Source
Bristol Township Police have been on a special traffic weight detail targeting trucks/vehicles weighing more than 3.5 tons crossing the more than 120-year-old bridge. The public safety-focused infrastructure effort was launched, Sgt. Jason Mancuso said, after Edgely residents sent the township video clips of “heavy trucks” crossing the recently reopened span.
Truck drivers have frequently ignored the weight limit restrictions which has led to structural damage to the bridge.
“We have to protect not only the township residents,” Mancuso said, “but its properties, too.”
The Randall Ave Bridge was closed due to concrete from the bridge falling onto the railroad tracks below.
Rep Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Bucks) announced, earlier this month, he secured $500,000.00 for the township so a Haines Rd bridge can be constructed.
The first step into building a Haines Road Bridge involves issuing requests for proposals (RFPs) for a concept plan and analysis of the existing Randall Avenue structure, Mazur said.
A bridge on Haines Road will require the township to acquire private property between the road and Radcliffe St. for the project to move forward.
“Our proposal is right now we’re looking for RFPs for a concept plan to do an analysis on the existing Randall Avenue Bridge,” Mazur said. “What we hope to do is create a Haines Road bridge.”
Constructing such a bridge will likely lead to the demise of the Randall Ave Bridge, Mazur said.
The recently reopened Randall Ave Bridge
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