WHITE HAVEN, Pa. — The Interstate 80 bridges that sit high above the Lehigh River in White Haven are set to be replaced. PennDOT plans to begin construction this spring.
According to PennDOT, the bridges carry an average of 27,400 vehicles per day, about 44 percent of which is truck traffic.
"To build new bridges on a slightly new alignment adjacent to the existing bridges, the intent is to keep traffic on the old bridges while the new bridges are being built," explained Ron Young, District 5 press officer for PennDOT.
But recent plans for the project are stirring up concerns for the borough and business owners. The project will bring increased truck traffic through Main Street.
"One of our big concerns is all of the equipment coming into the project, all of the concrete, all of the gravel, all of the rebar has to come down Main Street of White Haven," said White Haven Polie Chief Thomas Szoke.
Officials with PennDOT say they could not use an access road through the Lehigh Gorge State Park due to federal law, so they had to find another way to the site.
"We needed to minimize the impact of that, so the appropriate design they came up with was a temporary access road at the south end of Main Street in the borough to access down by the river to get to the bridges," said Young.
Lisa Stuart owns Thimbleberry yarn and craft on Main Street. She worries the increased truck traffic will impact parking and business. A hit she says none of the businesses can afford since they rely on tourism dollars.
"They are going to be obstructing through traffic and making it difficult to come through for all of the businesses on this street for four years," said Stuart.
"We get a lot of river traffic, a lot of ski slope traffic. We got really hurt really bad during COVID. We got killed when they closed the state park for two years to renovate, so everything under that bridge was newly renovated," said Szoke.
The bridge replacement project is expected to take four years. PennDOT says it will do its best to minimize disruptions through the process.