Bridge to WashPA

Kathy Warco reports in today's O-R that the new North Main Street bridge over I-70 may be open by Labor Day. This was welcome news for all those motorists (including yours truly) who often reach WashPA via that stretch of road from the Village of Arden in Chartiers Township. It's too bad it won't be up in time for the Washington County Fair. The fairgrounds are just north of the site.

From Kathy's article:

The North Main bridge, along with bridges on Lakeview Drive, also in South Strabane east of the south junction with I-79, and Sumney Road in Somerset Township, were demolished this year. All three spans took traffic over I-70. Structural deficiencies were discovered by the state Department of Transportation during inspections that followed the partial collapse of the Lakeview bridge onto the highway.

These are just three examples of the 22.4 percent of Pennsylvania bridges that engineers say are not as strong as they should be. If elected to the State House on November 7, I will support improvements to the PennDOT budget (and overall state transportation policy) that ensure replacement of "structurally deficient" bridges occurs on a timely basis.