The Seidersville Road Bridge–a historic metal truss bridge across the Saucon Creek in Bethlehem–has been closed since February 2011. Northampton County officials say about $10 million is needed to fund its replacement. The bridge has a historical significance rating of 5 out of 10 on a national scale and 7 out of 10 on a local scale on the website HistoricBridges.org, which documents the preservation status of historic bridges throughout the U.S.
Two bridges near Hellertown and Lower Saucon Township that have been closed for about six years are back in the news, with one of them scheduled for replacement this year.
The 107-year-old timber High Street Bridge located on Bethlehem’s border with Hellertown is on track to be replaced later this year, after being closed in June 2011.
“The construction contract for replacement of the High Street Bridge has been awarded to Grace Industries,” the Borough of Hellertown announced on its Facebook page Jan. 30. “A pre-construction meeting with PennDOT and the contractor has been scheduled for Feb. 17.”
“Contractor mobilization” is expected to begin the first week of March, and the new bridge is projected to be completed sometime in October.
The bridge is owned by the City of Bethlehem, although due to its proximity to Hellertown its ownership status is often confused.
Delays with its replacement schedule occurred because Norfolk-Southern owns the right-of-way beneath the bridge–an abandoned rail line–and originally wanted to fill in the deep, narrow cut there so a roadway could be built straight across.
The city objected to that plan, however, because it wants to eventually link the South Bethlehem Greenway with the Saucon Rail Trail south of the High Street crossing.
According to a Lehigh Valley Live article published Thursday, in the end Norfolk-Southern agreed to contribute $400,000 toward the design of the new bridge, which will be a two-lane span costing $1 million, according to Bethlehem public works director Michael Alkhal.
That article also includes an update on the status of the Seidersville Road Bridge, which spans the Saucon Creek about a quarter mile west of the High Street Bridge.
Closed since February 2011, the Northampton County-owned Seidersville Road Bridg is a metal truss bridge built in 1935, and is historically significant, according to the website HistoricBridges.org.
An entry on the Historic Bridges website states that the Seidersville Road Bridge “is the only known through truss with welded connections in Pennsylvania” and “one of the earliest all-welded truss bridges in Pennsylvania.”
“For these two reasons, the bridge is considered technologically significant and the bridge is thus eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, because it documents the transition from riveted connections to welded connections,” it says.
A November 2012 Road Warrior column published by The Morning Call cited a “chronic lack of state funding, but also…the (environmentally sensitive) creek and wetlands beneath” the bridge as reasons why it was unlikely to be replaced or reopened anytime soon. At that time the estimated replacement cost for it was $7 to $8 million.
Fast forward about four years and the estimated replacement cost has increased to $10 million, with no replacement timeline in place, according to the Lehigh Valley Live article, which cites Northampton County Bridge Superintendent Tom Kohler.
Kohler told the newspaper the county is trying to obtain PennDOT funding to replace the Seidersville Road Bridge, but that the narrowness of the road and the low amount of traffic that crossed the bridge when it was open limit their chances.
The closure of both bridges nearly simultaneously contributed to increased traffic congestion in north Hellertown during the Rt. 412 widening project between Cherry Lane and the Sands casino in Bethlehem.
That $36 million project lasted about four years and was completed late last year.
The net effect of reopening the High Street Bridge will be that Ravena Street and Silvex Road in Bethlehem will more easily be accessible from Hellertown, west of Main Street, however some residents of Ravena Street have expressed concerns about local traffic using their road as a short-cut around the traffic lights at the I-78/Rt. 412 interchange.
Reopening the Seidersville Road Bridge would presumably diminish that likelihood, as it would provide a more direct route across the creek for westbound traffic from north Hellertown, and eastbound traffic from Bethlehem and Lower Saucon Township.
The reopening of the Seidersville Road Bridge would also presumably help relieve congestion in the area of the Walnut Street Bridge while the Water Street Bridge–the next bridge south–is closed for replacement during the summer of 2019 and detours are in place.
What do you think? Should the Seidersville Road Bridge in Bethlehem be replaced with a modern span; should it be restored and reopened, since it is considered historically significant; or should it remain closed? Tell us in the comments.
The locations of two closed bridges near Hellertown is depicted on this map. The black dot to the left represents the Seidersville Road Bridge and the black dot to the right represents the High Street Bridge.
