Editor's note: The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation took down the New York span of the Skinners Falls Bridge on Thursday, April 17. Click here for updates. 

SKINNERS FALLS, NY and MILANVILLE, PA — Judge Karoline Mehalchick of the United States District Court made a ruling in favor of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) on Tuesday, April 15, clearing the way for PennDOT to continue demolishing the Skinners Falls Bridge. 

The court decision is in response to a lawsuit filed in U.S. district court by local nonprofit Damascus Citizens for Sustainability (DCS) and Milanville resident Cynthia Nash that attempts to preserve the historic Skinners Falls Bridge from PennDOT’s plans to demolish the bridge. 

PennDOT claims the bridge is at risk of imminent collapse and a danger to the public. The lawsuit sought an injunction—a court order preventing the bridge from being destroyed while the lawsuit played out. 

Judge Mehalchick denied the request for an injunction and found DCS' claims about the bridge's condition to be unconvincing. 

"While the court acknowledges [DCS and Nash]'s position that they will be harmed if the bridge is demolished, expert testimony supports that the bridge is already on the verge of a collapse," wrote Mehalchick. 

She continued, "Expert testimony supports that the bridge's seemingly inevitable collapse would endanger life, property and the environment, and thus the public. Delaying the bridge's demolition exacerbates these issues, especially considering the busy summer season which will soon bring many visitors to the Delaware River area." 

What happens next

The decision clears the way for the demolition of the Skinners Falls Bridge. 

PennDOT announced the evening of Wednesday, April 16 that it would begin to demolish the bridge the following morning; click here for more.

DCS Executive Director Barbara Arrindell made a statement following the decision, reading in part, "The denial of the injunction halting demolition of Skinners Falls Bridge by federal court does not negate the validity of the valiant advocacy by Damascus Citizens for Sustainability and countless people in our region and beyond who crusaded for years for the preservation of this historic and restorable landmark against the destructive power of PennDOT."

"All of our actions to preserve the bridge have been in accordance with our mission to preserve the health and safety of human beings and their environment, including cherished historic resources that are our history. That bridge is poetry in steel," Arrindell wrote. "We continue to claim that PennDOT played three card monte with the public and the bridge with deceit and hidden agendas that we hope will be revealed by a documentary film we will produce."

The facts of the case

DCS and Nash argued for a preliminary injunction on the grounds that PennDOT and its partners did not fulfill their legal requirements to review the prospect of demolition before going ahead. In deliberating on the preliminary injunction, Judge Mehalchick found that argument unconvincing. 

DCS and Nash "failed to show that [PenndDOT et. al.] acted arbitrarily or capriciously or otherwise improperly by rejecting or failing alternatives to demolition, such as repairing or disassembling the bridge," Mehalchick wrote. 

Mehalchick found that PennDOT properly used an emergency exception to avoid conducting an environmental assessment; that PennDOT properly considered alternatives to demolition; and that PennDOT properly provided notice of its activities as required under historic preservation laws. 

The deliberations also went into detail regarding conflicting claims made about the bridge's current condition. 

PennDOT and its partners had two engineers testify at the hearing—"persuasively," according to Mehalchick—who attested to the damaged condition of the Skinners Falls Bridge. They told the court the bridge had severe cracks in the abutment on the New York side of the bridge, and that "once one abutment fails, the entire structure is likely to collapse into the river."

DCS and Nash "presented no evidence countering [PennDOT et. al.]'s expert testimony or proposing other viable means of repairing the bridge," wrote Mehalchick. 

The court heard a DCS proposal to rehabilitate the bridge, in which the company Wrought Iron Bridge Works proposed a way of stabilizing the bridge for its later restoration. 

However, PennDOT's expert witness told the court "the proposal is speculative and contemplates a structure far smaller than the [Skinners Falls] Bridge," wrote Mehalchick. "Nothing in the record disputes [his] testimony."