MILANVILLE, PA — The metal brace that dangled precariously from the Skinners Falls-Milanville Bridge shows an “escalating deterioration” that threatens everyone passing beneath it, the Upper Delaware Council (UDC) told the PA Department of Transportation (PennDOT) in an August 2 letter.

PennDOT engineers responded the next day. They removed a section of a pedestrian handrail and a piece of a cross-frame sway brace that had detached under the stringers, the horizontal beams that support the bridge deck. The cross-frame sway brace is the X-shaped component that prevents the bridge from swaying from side to side.

Laurie Ramie, the UDC executive director, sent the August 2 letter to PennDOT District 4-0 officials Richard Roman, the district executive, and Amy Lolli, the bridge project manager. “More than half of the metal substructure components are now reportedly missing, and the fragile condition would easily be exacerbated by storm damage or debris hitting against it,” she wrote.

Next steps

Ramie said bridge engineer Gerard Babinski has kept her updated over several calls on Tuesday and Wednesday. He told her that PennDOT’s Wayne County’s maintenance crew responded the day of her letter but found no imminent danger. On August 3 the engineers visually inspected the bridge from the ground up, checking particularly for anything that could detach and fall. They took photos and are now writing a detailed report for further analysis.

Babinski also told Ramie that PennDOT will:

• Return in a few weeks to a month to do a “hands-on” inspection with rigging in place, so that engineers can closely examine the underside of the bridge;
• Inspect the bridge at least every two weeks.
• Consult with the NPS and the NYS Department of Transportation (DOT) about the need to implement an Aid to Navigation Boater Safety Plan.

Ramie said Babinski thanked the UDC for reaching out with and told her, “Anytime public safety is potentially compromised, we take action” as their highest priority.”

A still-undetermined fate

Ramie’s August 2 letter said a UDC board member and licensed fishing guide—referring to Tusten representative Evan Padua—expressed alarm at the previous evening’s UDC meeting over the safety of all those who “innocently paddle, float, swim, fish, or wade under the bridge.”

Her letter said rangers from the National Park Service (NPS) and Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River were already investigating the bridge. She suggested installing tarps to catch falling pieces and creating a boater safety plan with the NPS.

“While nobody wants a further blight on our outstanding scenic values that are already compromised by the clutter of detour and emergency signs, dirt piles, and metal barricades surrounding the bridge, safety protection must be paramount,” Ramie wrote.

It will be five years in October since the state shut down this “beloved historic bridge” for being unsafe, Ramie wrote, as she relayed the UDC’s concerns over the long wait and the $4 million cost of PennDOT’s Planning and Environmental Linkages Study.

PennDOT in April presented to the public three options going forward with the 122-year-old bridge: a traditional restoration, a modern renovation with a historic appearance, and a total replacement. Its officials have said they also support the traditional restoration heavily favored by the public.

“It’s inevitable that the bridge continues to structurally decay while awaiting the determination of its fate,” Ramie said.