A city-owned bridge linking Lehigh Drive with Hugh Moore Park has been closed after failing a PennDOT inspection about 10 days ago, and repairs will cost the City of Easton about $225,000, officials said at Wednesday evening's city council meeting.
The bridge, one of two that accesses the park, suffered the failure of an expansion joint, which damaged one of its support piers, said city administrator Glenn Steckman. A redecking project on the span was just completed about eight months ago, he noted.
“It just happened. It's an old bridge,” Steckman said. “None of this was found (last year) because it wasn't related to redecking.”
The failure is probably due to either extreme heat or cold caused by weather freezing the joint and preventing it from allowing for some necessary flexibility in the span, he said.
City council members voted Wednesday evening to borrow the $225,000 against a future bond issue to pay for the needed emergency work.
“We're hoping it's going to be less than that,” Steckman said.
Final estimates of the repair costs are not yet in, he said, adding that the city will send the project out for bids, and engineers are expected to be coming up with both a repair plan and a final cost estimate in about a week.
Meanwhile, the bridge is closed to even pedestrian traffic, and another bridge that is normally one-way has been temporarily made into a two-lane span to accommodate park visitors, including campers who visit the park in the summer months by the busload.
That number has reportedly increased this summer, with the relocation of the National Canal Museum to the park earlier this year from its former location on Centre Square.
Steckman said while the closure is an annoyance, it shouldn't impact park visitors very much.
“We put more signage in place so people are aware (the park is accessible) at the Lehigh Drive entrance,” he said.
The span is expected to be closed for about 90 days, he added.
And, while the $1 million-plus cost of last year's redecking project was largely paid for by the Hugh Moore Park trust fund, the city will bear full financial burden of this repair, Steckman confirmed.
“This is a city-owned bridge,” he said.
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