The Water Street Bridge, which was built in 1937 to replace a covered bridge across the Saucon Creek, is an important connection between Hellertown borough and western Lower Saucon Township.
An important connector across the Saucon Creek between Hellertown and Lower Saucon Township will be out of commission for a couple months while it’s replaced, but the inconvenience for local motorists will be relatively brief in comparison to other recent road projects.
The aged Water Street Bridge is a critical link between Hellertown and parts of Lower Saucon Township.
On Wednesday, Jan. 25, PennDOT officials held an open house meeting at the Lower Saucon Township municipal building with updated information about their plans to replace the structurally deficient Water Street Bridge with a brand new $2.5 million span. Their displays provided new information and focused on revised detour routes, as well as a new Summer 2019 construction timeline that is moved back a year.
The meeting, known as a display meeting, featured handouts for attendees, and large maps showing new detour routes and what the finished bridge will look like.
Attendees were invited to view the maps up close and ask questions of both the PennDOT and KCI Technologies representatives.
Eric Martz, a representative of KCI Technologies Inc., the engineering firm that will construct the bridge, was available to field questions.
One of the earlier proposed detours would have prevented all but local traffic from driving west on W. Water Street toward Water Street Park and the Saucon Rail Trail, but at the meeting the new detour routes–for both trucks and cars–were prominently displayed.
A map shows the detours that will be in place for both cars and trucks while the Water Street Bridge is closed during the summer of 2019.
The truck detour will be nine miles long and follow Rt. 412 north to W. Third Street in Bethlehem to Rt. 378 south to Seidersville Road to Hickory Hill Road to Friedensville Road. The longer truck route was created to provide trucks enough space to make wide turns; an option not available on the non-truck detour route.
The bridge is expected to be closed from mid-June to mid-August 2019 in hopes of minimizing traffic congestion during a time when school is out.
“We’re anticipating starting and finishing construction while the kids are out on summer break,” Martz said.
Several surveys were done that have impacted the construction timeline, including a study over several months to determine the occupancy of an endangered species in Saucon Creek, as well as the use of the stream during trout season.
PennDOT representative Jayne McColl said there are also plans to clean up the creek in the area of the bridge by removing broken concrete pillars.
When asked by an attendee what they new bridge would look like, Martz said they could add an “aesthetic treatment” to the bridge, such as brick stamping, which would help the new 2-lane span blend in with the existing environment of the area.
Both KCI and PennDOT representatives said matching it to the nearby historic Heller Homestead would be the first choice. However, stamping would add extra cost to the project and would only be done if the community demands it be done.
“If it was a historical bridge, we would have to do it,” McColl said, “but this is not a historic bridge.”
The new bridge will be the same height as the existing structure and will feature two 11-foot lanes with an eight-foot shoulder on one side and a three-foot shoulder on the other.
It will not incorporate a sidewalk, in order to accommodate a wider road shoulder, a document provided by PennDOT states under “Proposed Improvements.”
The public is welcome to send comments, concerns or questions about the plans to KCI Technologies Inc., 5001 Louise Drive, Suite 201, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055.
Contact information for the officials overseeing the plans can also be found below:
