A crumbling Bristol Township bridge could soon be closing as concrete is falling onto the busy rail tracks below.
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Township officials are mulling the closure of the Randall Avenue bridge that crosses Amtrak’s busy Northeast Corridor and provides a traffic connection between Route 13 and Radcliffe Street.
Randee Elton, Bristol Township’s manager, said Tuesday that the municipality is “actively working on shutting the road down” and waiting to hear back from Amtrak.
The township’s public works crews are prepared to place signs and jersey barriers to block off the bridge to traffic, Elton said.
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The bridge is set to have nearly $1 million in repair work completed this year, but the deterioration is happening quickly and visibly.
Kurt Schroeder, of Gilmore and Associates and the township engineer, said last week that the project will repair the abutments that support the bridge by applying a resin to encase the concrete and secure it.
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The work is also expected to include resealing of joints, repairs to deteriorating bottom flanges, and repairs to flanges and concrete-encased steel beams. The work will additionally include improvement of stormwater drainage around the span.
The project to fix up the “challenging” bridge is expected to begin in late spring or early summer, Schroeder said.
Residents have been advising the township and Amtrak in recent weeks that material from the two-lane span is falling on the busy Amtrak and SEPTA tracks below.
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Elton told LevittownNow.com the township doesn’t have the capacity to fully overhaul the bridge at this point and is seeking grant money for a full reconstruction.
Amtrak has been advised and the township has appealed to them for help, Elton said.
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Officials from the township are in communication with the offices of Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, State Rep. Tina Davis, and State Sen. Steve Santarsiero about the bridge.
One issue making things work is overweight trucks crossing the bridge, despite signs warning them not to. Elton said the township doesn’t have the resources to have police officers on either side of the bridge around the clock.
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The bridge is posted with a weight limit of 3.5 tons.
The 169-foot span was constructed in 1919 and is listed by PennDOT as being in poor condition.
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