NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY, Pa. -- A community in Northumberland County thrown into chaos due to a major construction project is getting a bit of a break.
People can once again use the bridge coming out of Northumberland borough to get into Sunbury.
The Route 147 bridge over the Susquehanna River is back open for business in Northumberland and folks can once again use it to get to Sunbury.
For months, people were having to use a lengthy detour through Shamokin Dam to get to Sunbury.
Jay Seidel, the owner of the Front Street Station restaurant says the closure hurt business.
“Very inconvenient because we sit here empty. Nobody wants to come to Northumberland because
it’s just such a mess,” said Seidel.
This is just one step closer to getting back to normal for Northumberland which has been mired in a traffic nightmare since 2017.
PennDOT is doing a $14 million reconstruction project on four major arteries in the borough.
“I’m just ready for all of it to be done, just be able to be smooth sailing, it’s ridiculous, it is,” said Josh Fegley.
The bridge’s entrance was shut down over the summer so PennDOT could tackle its most difficult phase of this project: replacing the concrete and drainage system on Route 147, also known as King Street.
The bridge had to be closed so crews could work on this portion of Route 147.
Now that that is done, crews have begun working on the other side of Route 147, but in this project, multiple blocks are closed.
Seidel believes those closures are due to when crews dug in the wrong spot for the sewer line.
“It was on the opposite side of the street, so they had to go back to the drawing board, three weeks, stalled construction, okay?” said Seidel. “And then they decided, okay we’re behind schedule, now we’re going to rip up the entire thing all at once, where they were supposed to do it small sections.”
PennDOT says the King Street work is the last project of this year and expected to wrap by Thanksgiving.
The entire project should be completed by next year.