Old Bethlehem Road has been closed between Bridge Street and Rt. 212 in Springfield Township due to damage that occurred at the bridge over Cooks Creek when the remnants of Hurricane Ida inundated the area last week. The view above is looking south on Old Bethlehem Road from across the bridge.
If you regularly travel Old Bethlehem Road in Springfield Township, you may need to use a detour for some time.
Springfield Township Police announced Tuesday that a portion of the two-lane road “will be closed for an extended length of time due to storm water damage.”
The damage occurred when the remnants of Hurricane Ida inundated Bucks County with upwards of seven inches of rain, which resulted in deadly flash flooding last week.
Also closed as a result of damage caused by flash flooding is a section of Rt. 611 in Williams Township, Northampton County, and Durham Township, Bucks County.
The Springfield Township Police Department said the section of Old Bethlehem Road that has been closed due to damage is located at the bridge between Bridge Street and Rt. 212.
There a stone bridge spans Cooks Creek, a rivulet that became a raging torrent due to last Wednesday’s excessive rainfall.
“Storm water completely undermined the roadway and it is not safe for vehicles,” police noted in a post on their Crimewatch site.
“The rest of Old Bethlehem Road is safe,” they stressed, “however a detour will be established due to the length of time this portion of roadway will take to repair/replace.”
Access to the northern parts of Old Bethlehem Road, including Travelda Farm, can be made from points south of Bridge Street, including Pullen Station Road, Roundhouse Road and Winding Road, police said.
Bridge Street, which is a short feeder road between Old Bethlehem Road and Rt. 212 in the village of Pleasant Valley, is also closed completely until further notice, they added.
Springfield Township Police said Bridge Street in Pleasant Valley is also closed to traffic as a result of the damage from flash flooding along Cooks Creek. Bridge Street is a short-cut between Rt. 212 and Old Bethlehem Road, which is closed between Bridge Street and Rt. 212
Springfield Township Police said they are still waiting for PennDOT officials to announce and post a detour route around the closures.
Transportation officials for the Palisades School District have been notified and will be modifying their routes accordingly, they added.
“Please plan for delays in pick-up and drop-off times,” police said. “Please be patient with our road crew and PennDOT as they assess the damage and repair/replace the roadways.”
Unrelated to the flooding that occurred was a detour on Richlandtown Pike in Springfield Township that required motorists to use Rt. 212 to get around it.
That detour was ended when the bridge that was under repair recently reopened to traffic.
