LUZERNE COUNTY, Pa. — The Firefighters Memorial Bridge, also known as the Water Street Bridge, which connects Pittston and West Pittston, will not reopen.
Officials in Luzerne County tell Newswatch 16 that PennDOT has rejected the findings of a study that says the bridge can reopen under a lower weight limit.
Signs that say "bridge closed" have blocked vehicles from using the Firefighters Memorial Bridge since the summer of 2021.
Officials in Luzerne County say they got the approval from engineers to reopen the bridge with lower weight limits, but that's now been overruled.
"Unfortunately, PennDOT has just put another hurdle in our way, and you know we paid almost $300,000 for this study, and PennDOT is telling us now that the goalposts had been moved once again, so we're a little upset about that," said Luzerne County Council member John Lombardo.
A spokesperson said PennDOT "reviewed the county's proposal and provided recommendations to the county. Further steps will be evaluated by the county to determine if the bridge can be safely opened."
"The county did their study, which we appreciate they want to try to reopen it. But PennDOT doesn't want to take the risk, and I respect that," said West Pittston Mayor Angelo Alfano.
Alfano said something has to be done about the traffic pattern at the intersection on the West Pittston side of the Fort Jenkins bridge. He told Newswatch 16 that the traffic there is an extreme inconvenience during rush hours.
"There's a stop sign coming off (Route) 92, which is Exeter Avenue. No stop sign on Route 11, Wyoming avenue. If you're on 92, it's not a good experience. There's a temporary traffic signal they could put in. There's some changes they could do not allowing left turn coming off the bridge or going on it because that also causes a little bit of backup, and I know we've had a couple of accidents there because of that too," Alfano said.
"The concrete bridge is a disaster on during rush hour, especially on the west side, because there's no streetlights. I've heard some horror stories about the traffic over there," said Pittston resident Tony Gruenloh.
Alfano would also like to see officials use better barriers to close the bridge and keep pedestrians off it if it's going to remain closed.
"I know people are walking across it. They actually had to chase a couple of motorcycles that came running across here a couple of weeks ago, and the police had to try to chase them. So I think if they are going to want to close, they should close it fully."
Mayor Alfano said the plan now will be to replace this bridge and then also replace the concrete Fort Jenkins Bridge. However, that could be at least ten years out.
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