There is finally a light at the end of the proverbial tunnel for local motorists who have had to navigate a detour around the closed Meadows Road Bridge in Lower Saucon Township for nearly eight years.

The bridge’s replacement is nearly complete, with York-based contractor Kinsley Construction, PennDOT and township officials confirming this week that the new bridge should open to vehicular traffic in early June, which would be slightly ahead of schedule. The announcement noted that favorable weather conditions will be needed for the early June opening to happen.

A two-lane box beam bridge that will be 100 feet long, the new span is wider than the one it replaces. Built in 1858, the stone arch Meadows Road Bridge was a local engineering landmark that was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2020, shortly before it began to collapse into the Saucon Creek.

That was several years after it was closed to traffic, when an April 2018 inspection which deemed it structurally deficient.

Some uncertainty about the bridge’s future ensued, with preservationists in the community advocating for its rehabilitation, while others expressed concerns about cost and the structure’s obsolescence from a traffic and engineering standpoint.

After the bridge began to collapse, officials with Northampton County–which owns the bridge–decided to replace it with a new structure.

Signs and barricades block traffic at the Meadows Road Bridge, which is nearing completion in Lower Saucon Township.

Preliminary site work began in the summer of 2024, and the bridge’s construction began in February 2025. The bridge pier was finished in April of last year and its abutments in July. The project has also included installing foundations as deep as 150 feet; constructing sidewalks, driveways and curbs along the approaches to the bridge; and upgrading drainage systems.

The new bridge–which is close to the Saucon Rail Trail–features a walkway, but it does not connect to other sidewalks.

Meadows Road is a main connector road for traffic between Rt. 412 just south of Hellertown and points north and west, where it connects with Friedensville Road. Although it is primarily a residential area, the township neighborhood west of the bridge was also home to a large banquet hall which was destroyed in a large fire last fall.