NICHOLSON TOWNSHIP -- A bridge more than 130 years old is getting a new home in Wyoming County.
When you're a bridge on the National Registry of Historic Places, you're treated a little more delicately. For years, crews have wondered how to keep the bridge in Nicholson Township, built in 1881, intact.
On top of that, how do you allow trucks and cars to drive over Tunkhannock Creek on State Route 1029 because that historic bridge they used to use hasn't been open since 2004.
Drivers haven't used this road to get from Route 11 to Route 92 since then.
"Because it is on the National Registry of Historic Places, we had to prove that what was the most feasible alternate to provide a safe crossing over the creek here," said senior bridge engineer Tom Porter.
The solution: to move this bridge and build a new one for people on State Route 1029. It's all part of a $3 million federal grant.
"There's only four bridges of this type in the state of Pennsylvania. To restore it, they're going to take it apart, clean it, repaint it, repair any damage that's happened in the 140 years it's been in place," explained structural designer Brandon Newpher.
The next step in the process is for crews to take apart this bridge piece by piece and restore it. From there, it will be moved to about six miles away to its new home at Lazy Brook Park as a footbridge.
The bridge carries a lot of memories for people, including Tony Caladie who has lived next it for decades.
"I didn't want to see it go. I liked it. My kids swam off it, they jumped off it, my grandkids, the same thing. Well it's gone," said Caladie.
"It's bittersweet because I like the dead end, but it's nice they aren't destroying the bridge," said Loretta Dragon, who lives nearby.
A replacement bridge on State Route 1029 is expected to be completed by April of next year. That's also when crews hope this old bridge is settled in at its new home.