A structural gem sits nestled in a valley amongst the mountains of Lycoming County Pennsylvania. Known today as the English Center Bridge and mostly traversed by locals and the wanderers who wish to visit nearby Little Pine Creek State Park, this architecturally significant creek crossing provides a visual aesthetic to the surrounding landscape that the surrounding community rallied to have preserved. The structure was listed in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1978 and recorded for the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) in 1997.
Designed and constructed in 1891 by Dean and Westbrook, the English Center Bridge (or as it was historically called-The Lower Bridge at English Center) (PA-SHARE Resource #1978RE00069) is a hybrid truss and suspension structure. The crossing contains a system of eyebar chains suspended from vertical towers and connected to concrete anchorages. Along with the suspension components, a truss system made up of diagonal rods and vertical members connect the eyebar chains to the bridge girders. The girders then support the flooring system for the structure.
From previous research done by the PennDOT project team, it is believed this specific type of engineering hybrid structure is the only type of its kind in the United States remaining on the landscape.
Decision to Rehabilitate the English Center Bridge
All bridges require maintenance and rehabilitation work as they age, and the English Center Bridge was no exception. A new flooring system was installed in 1922, a few new diagonals/guiderail/curbs were placed on the structure in 1953, and supplementary stringers and new diagonals were installed in 2009 to point out a few of the more robust repairs completed on the bridge over the years. By 2013 PennDOT, in coordination with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), were beginning to develop a more in-depth project for the crossing to address the further deterioration of the bridge; and improve the load posting of the structure.
That same year PennDOT began Section 106 Consulting Party coordination with interested community members, bridge enthusiasts, and the Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Office (PA SHPO). This consultation helped the PennDOT project team and the FHWA to determine if the rehabilitation of the English Center Bridge was something supported by the surrounding community that utilized the crossing daily. Once that support was established, the project team then needed to develop a plan that met the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation (SOI Standards).
Years in the Making
The PennDOT project team produced a rehabilitation plan that would keep as much of the historic fabric of the historic bridge as possible, while also repairing deterioration and upgrading the load rating for the bridge to 10 tons.
It was determined that the PennDOT District 3-0 Cultural Resource Professional (CRP)-Architectural Historian, would be present on the construction site for key moments of the project process, including the full disassembly and reassembly of the bridge; and in the fall of 2023, J.D. Eckman began preparatory work in the bridge vicinity to prepare for the impending removal.
Finally, in July of 2024 the first pin was removed and the bridge began its rehabilitation journey.
First pin removed from the English Center Bridge as part of the rehabilitation project. Source: PennDOT.
Over the next few months, the structure pieces were carefully removed, tagged, and sent to have previous layers of paint removed. (photos 3, 4, and, 5) Once the paint removal was finished, the pieces were sent to Pelet Welding to undergo any minor repairs that may needed, and from Pelet sent out for repainting.
South bridge portal strut removal. Source: PennDOT.
Tagged bridge tower piece. Source: PennDOT.
Sandblasted eyebar pieces ready for inspection. Source: PennDOT.
The entire rehabilitation and repainting process lasted a little over a year, with the finished pieces arriving back to the construction site in late winter of 2026. Over the next five months, J.D. Eckman would reassemble the structure).
South bridge towers and box verticals reassembly, looking northeast. Source: PennDOT.
English Center Bridge Reassembly-Photo 7-Looking Northwest. Source: PennDOT.
After three years of construction, on July 2nd, 2026, the English Center Community held a bridge opening and “walk-over” for the newly rehabilitated bridge. PennDOT and J.D. Eckman were in attendance to watch the event, and the local community members expressed their joy in seeing something that means so much to them preserved and back on the landscape.
July 2nd, 2026 English Center Community Bridge Walkover Event. Source: PennDOT.
Why so Much Effort to Rehabilitate a Bridge?
From start to finish the English Center Bridge project took approximately 13 years, and it would be disingenuous to say I never had any people, the public/fellow coworkers/consultants/contractors, ask me why anyone would ever put so much time and money into an “old” bridge in the middle of “nowhere.” I can always give the answer of how important this historic bridge is to preservation and American Cultural Heritage. Afterall, its rare, its engineering is significant, its location is important, etc. but the truth is those answers often fall on ears that don’t find them intriguing enough to matter.
My answer for why take so much effort to rehabilitate an “old” bridge is: the community. While I was not employed by PennDOT at the beginning of this project, I had the privilege of being out on the construction site daily for most of the three years that J.D. Eckman was there. Not only did I get the chance to talk to members of the community and hear how grateful they were that PennDOT was saving “their” bridge, I also had the opportunity to watch the public interact with the construction crew. The community embraced the Eckman team over the three years of the project and explained to them how much the bridge meant to the area, as a result the construction crew treated the project with care and importance because of the relationships built within the community.
It’s easy to offer hard data points and historic significance arguments as to why we should save bridges, buildings, landscapes, etc. But as was reinforced by being present on this project site, the community of people that surround and treasure these places and structures are the reason why so much effort should be placed on rehabilitating and preserving cultural heritage.
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Today’s Guest Contributor is Heather Gerling. Heather has been a Cultural Resource Professional (CRP)-Architectural Historian for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) for the past eight years. She received her Master’s in Historic Preservation and Museum Studies at the Center for Historic Architecture and Design in the University of Delaware.
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