PennDOT Opens Bids for New Route 487 Bridge at Lopez
Montoursville - PennDOT opened bids today for the emergency contract to replace the flood-damaged Route 487 Bridge at Lopez in Sullivan County.
The unofficial low bid of $1,794,066 was submitted by G. A. & F. C. Wagman, Inc.
PennDOT anticipates awarding the contract shortly, with construction starting early next week.
The Route 487 Bridge over Loyalsock Creek was damaged beyond repair during flooding caused by Hurricane Irene in late August.
PennDOT initiated a long-term detour, which was signed and in effect within one week of the bridge collapse.
PennDOT developed an emergency contract to remove the existing 79-year old bridge. (Work completed)
PennDOT developed an emergency contract to build a permanent replacement on the existing alignment.
Bids for the construction contract were opened today, with the notice-to-proceed anticipated on Oct. 7.
The new bridge is scheduled to be open to traffic by mid-Dec. 2011, just 10 weeks after the start of construction.
Under normal circumstances, a bridge project on this magnitude takes 18 to 24 months to develop and construct.
The signed emergency detour uses Routes 118, 42, 220 and 87.
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Their detour may have been
Their detour may have been 118, 42, 220 and 87 but they knew most traffic would use Cooley Township road T826 instead. The township road has now been destroyed with all the excess traffic but all PennDot will say is "Sorry 'bout that but it's not the official detour!!!"
Hey PennDot ... Thanks for nothing!!!
Shame on PennDOT
While the flood was an act of nature, 1" of rain over 1 sqmi = 17,378,742.9 gal. We had 7", over god knows how many square miles in that watershed. That's a lot of fricken water. But you can't overlook the fact, that while the old bridge may have been solid, it had a hand laid, stone abutment, back-filled with what appeared to be slag from mine waste, etc. Water got behind this, collapsed it and that was it. PennDOT knew the nature of how the bridge was constructed, and photos from every flood in the past shown that water typically went over the entire bridge. With an increase of traffic and size of trucks, it probably should have replaced it 20 years ago. Therefore, the fair solution, would be for PennDOT to either A. Repair Dutch Mtn. Road; or B. Donate every dime they're fining Wagman for being past contract terms, to Colley Twp. for the purpose of road repairs. They've built a really nice bridge, in 11wks. That's pretty amazing... Just sayin'
AGREED
I completely agree with the comment about donating all of the money that Wagman was fined to the township for repair of Dutch Mountain Road. It is completely ridiculous that they were funded given the circumstances that they incurred along the way. SHAME ON PennDOT for fining them and saying f*** it to Dutch Mountain Road.
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