BRADFORD COUNTY, Pa. — It might be until the end of the summer before a bridge in Bradford County can reopen.
On Monday, PennDOT officials unveiled a plan to fix a bridge near Troy. The bridge over Sugar Creek was damaged last week when it was struck by a truck.
Route 6 is still closed in both directions between Leona Road and Mud Creek Road, with a 12-mile detour in place.
Eric High, a PennDOT official, says the oversized load was carrying a pressure tank from Susquehanna County to a location in Tioga County.
"The driver was not injured but has caused considerable damage to the bridge. As a result of that considerable damage, we identified the need to get in-depth inspection teams out here, which occurred last Thursday. They spent the entire day, essentially dawn to dusk, completing an in-depth inspection to try to quantify all of the damages that occurred," High explained.
PennDOT has secured state emergency repair funding for the bridge. Repair costs are estimated at $1 million to $2 million.
PennDOT hopes to begin repairs sometime this week while continuing to inspect the structure.
"It's going to depend on material availability," High said. "We need to get the steel—and some of it is specialized steel called fracture-critical steel—to make the repairs. We're checking on availability right now, trying to get those pieces here. As soon as we get those materials here, we'll start the repairs."
Emergency officials put a plan in place for first responders, but county workers have other concerns, including drivers not following the detour and the potential for traffic during the Troy Fair at the end of July.
"We are going to work out with the municipality, state police, and the fair, and PennDOT some ancillary plans for emergency egress and entrance to the fairgrounds just to kind of be ahead of that curve," said Jeff Rosenheck, Bradford County's emergency management coordinator.
State police are still investigating the crash. PennDOT hopes to have the bridge near Troy back open by the end of August.