At the end of July, PennDOT celebrated the relocation of a historic bowstring truss bridge in Schuylkill County onto Schuylkill River Greenways’ trail system with a ribbon cutting ceremony.
Category: Bridges (Page 1 of 6)
Bridges are a part of everyone’s lives, we walk across them, drive across them, and use them for cover in the rain. But do we ever really stop to appreciate the history of these bridges? My internship this summer focused a lot on historic bridges, especially stone arch bridge, and helped me to appreciate their value in the community.
The practice of historic preservation is like a family heirloom, passed down from one generation to the next so that when you get tasked with the role of heirloom keeper, it reminds us to not forget about the past and look to how it has shaped the present.
“This bridge will triumphantly typify the trail-blazing strategy…” so said Pennsylvania Governor John S. Fine in 1954 about the soon to be constructed Hawk Falls Bridge, finishing with “that took the Pennsylvania Turnpike System across streams of great width and turbulence…and through the rocky cores of mighty mountains.”
Last year, we announced PennDOT’s new funding source for historic metal truss bridges and highlighted two rehabilitation projects that were selected for the new program. With those projects well on their way, the Historic Metal Truss Bridge Capital Rehabilitation Program has since added four additional bridge projects across the Commonwealth.
Spring is around the corner, and long-requested updates to Surveyor Manager functionality are the among the first new blooms of the season!
It’s been a minute since I did a “year in review” post for the blog, so I thought I’d treat our readers to PA SHPO’s version of the ubiquitous end-of-year list.
In the spirit ICYMI, here is a list of the best posts from 2023 that you want to be sure to read. If I had to sum up the blog’s year in one phrase, I think it’s “a year of education, entertainment, and everything in between.”
From Fifty-One to Two: Rehabilitation of One of Schuylkill County’s Last Two Remaining Covered Bridges
The Rock Covered Bridge and Zimmerman Covered Bridge National Register nominations note that Schuylkill County once had fifty-one covered bridges. By the time the nominations were written in 1977, the total count was down to two.
As one of the most heavily traveled states in the country, Pennsylvania’s vast transportation network demonstrates technological changes from the 18th century to the present.
These changes, and the growth of Pennsylvania and the United States, would not be possible without bridges. Pennsylvania’s key location placed the Commonwealth at the forefront of development and application of innovative bridge technology and engineering.
Update on PennDOT’s Historic Metal Truss Bridge Management Plan
In 2017, PennDOT, in conjunction with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the PA SHPO, published the Metal Truss Bridge Management Plan (Management Plan). This plan, designed to serve as an ongoing planning tool, was the result of a multi-year effort to address the accelerating loss of historic metal truss bridges throughout the state. Now, roughly six years after the publication of the official document, PennDOT would like to provide an update.
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