DUNMORE, Pa. — The work to replace two bridges on a busy highway in Lackawanna County is one step closer to completion.
Contractors cut steel beams of the Interstate 84 eastbound bridge on Wednesday. It was the last section of the beams to come down.
PennDOT officials say because of the size of the beams and how close they are to the new bridge, it had to be done very carefully.
"There's a lot of engineering calculations that go into where you got to pick the beams because if you don't pick them the right way, it can tip the crane over, so it's a lot of engineering calculations that go into being able to pick up a beam like this," said PennDOT official Harold Hill.
Both bridges were built in the 1970s, and while PennDOT has made repairs over the years, it was time for the bridges to be replaced.
"When they first started designing bridges like this, they had a service life of like 50 years, and we're coming up on that service life now," Hill said.
The biggest change in this part of this project will be to the current exit for Route 435 towards Elmhurst. PennDOT will change it from a left-hand exit to a right-hand one and will build another bridge that goes over the interstate.
"People are just naturally used to getting off on the right-hand side, so I think it's just a natural movement. So, whenever we try and design stuff, that's what we try and do."
PennDOT officials say this project is currently ahead of schedule, and drivers should expect to see the next step happen later this summer.
"Once we finish demolishing the existing structure here, there's going to be two girder lines and beams that they're going to put on, and then they'll put the deck on, and then we're going to move westbound traffic over to eastbound, and you'll have both eastbound and westbound on the eastbound bridge," Hill explained.
The twin bridges project is expected to be completed in the spring of 2026.
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