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20250219-171806-342-C.A1 UPDE Skinners Final Permit SIGNED.pdf

SKINNERS FALLS, NY & MILANVILLE, PA — The National Park Service (NPS) has issued a permit to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) for the demolition of the Skinners Falls Bridge, removing one of the final hurdles the project will have to face before PennDOT can go ahead with the bridge's demolition. 

PennDOT has proposed to demolish the historic Skinners Falls Bridge due to its advanced state of deterioration. Click here for more information. 

The NPS review said the destruction of the bridge won’t have huge impacts to the river's wild and scenic qualities, but did set out a series of conditions PennDOT must follow to preserve the river. The destruction of the bridge will not degrade the "water quality, free-flowing condition, cultural, ecological, geological, recreational and scenic values" of the river, said the NPS review.

Many of the conditions involve preserving the river's natural qualities. For example, to ensure against the degradation of the Delaware River's free-flowing nature, PennDOT must use "pre- and post-construction bathymetric surveys" to make sure it does not damage the river bed or riverbank. If any damage does occur, PennDOT must fix it. 

The conditions also guard against negative effects to recreational use of the river. 

The bridge demolition plan requires that the river be closed to traffic for approximately two months. However, the project timeframe—76 days during the low-traffic winter and spring months—means this won't have significant impacts to recreation on the river, according to the NPS. 

"The demolition and causeway removal must be completed by May 25, 2025 to avoid significant negative impacts to recreational use of the river during peak season," writes the NPS. 

The NPS also found that if PennDOT follows the mitigation efforts outlined in its conditions, the project would not have permanent damage to the “cultural and scenic values” of the river corridor.

The NPS wrote that PennDOT must complete the process it started in 2019 of examining alternatives to the historic bridge at that site. It recommended that a "thoughtfully designed replacement bridge" could maintain the appeal of the existing truss bridge, and required that a replacement bridge be "aesthetically consistent with the corridor."

The NPS recommended that PennDOT save as much of the stone as possible from the existing bridge to use for a replacement bridge. However, in the event that PennDOT decides not to build a replacement bridge, the NPS requires that PennDOT remove the Pennsylvania abutment of the bridge, "to restore the area to its natural state."

Additionally, the NPS required PennDOT to create and follow a "memorandum of agreement" with the region's historic stakeholders, including the state historic preservation offices of NY and PA and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. 

Mitigation proposals

Some of the potential details of the memorandum were outlined in a stakeholders meeting held by PennDOT on Tuesday, February 11. 

According to notes from the meeting circulated by the Upper Delaware Council (UDC), mitigation ideas from PennDOT's partner agencies included: a commitment from PennDOT to rehabilitate and preserve Tanners Falls Bridge, the only other multi-span metal truss bridge in the district with the same level of preservation priority as the Skinners Falls Bridge; documentation of the Skinners Falls Bridge for historic records; salvage and re-use of the bridge's historic materials, whether in a new bridge at the same site, for use by local historical societies or to repurpose elsewhere; and a museum at the Skinners Falls site. 

The meeting included an opportunity for members of the public to present their ideas on the bridge's mitigation. However, according to the UDC's notes, "most speakers rejected the premise that the bridge cannot be saved and were critical of PennDOT."

One representative comment, from Milanville resident Josh Fox, reads, "The bridge needs to be restored, as the community has said over and over again, and not demolished. It can be repaired. It can be fixed." 

Fox added that the community has been "blindsided" by PennDOT's plans and that PennDOT has built no trust with the community to make the assertion that the bridge needs to come down. 

Responding to the commenters, Kris Thompson, the historic preservation supervisor at PennDOT, said, "We understand everyone's frustration and people's appreciation for this historic structure. As a preservationist, I hoped for that outcome as well."

However, PennDOT must go forward with what their engineers have said to them, Thompson said.