Bridge implosion stumbles on scheduling speed=bumps.
Implosion of the final section of the Donora-Webster bridge – initially planned for mid-spring – will likely occur in mid-summer.
Under a “best case scenario,” the river span of the bridge will be imploded shortly after the Fourth of July weekend, said Scott Faieta, assistant construction engineer for PennDOT District 12 in Uniontown. A “worst-case scenario” would have the span dropped into the Monongahela River by early August, he said.
“We’ve run into a lot of bumps in the schedule,” Faieta said. “With the railroads, the Coast Guard, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Fish and Game Commission, there’s been a lot of coordination.”
Each of those agencies will play a role before the bridge comes down this summer.
Built in 1908, the former Donora-Webster Bridge was closed in July 2009 after a routine inspection revealed several main support beams had deteriorated. A year after it was closed, the span was renamed for Webster native and former Lt. Gov. Ernest Kline. It never reopened.
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