Winfield applying for grant for 3 bridge replacements
WINFIELD TWP — Township supervisors are hoping the state will chip in the replace three bridges.
Supervisors approved a motion Thursday, June 26, to begin an application for a $1,000,000 Multimodal Transportation Fund grant from Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Financing Authority to fund the replacement of bridges are on Smith Road and Center and Helmbold avenues.
Notably, the bridge at Smith Road closed for a short time in the summer of 2024 after a car collided with the side of the bridge. When it reopened, traffic was reduced to one lane.
According to township Supervisor Matthew Klabnik, little effort was put into repairing the Smith Road bridge because the township was planning to totally replace it even before the crash.
“We have barriers up, but we’re not going to repair that bridge because we know we’re replacing it,” Klabnik said. “We were already planning to replace it before it got hit.”
In addition, the bridge on Center Avenue has been closed since 2019.
The Multimodal Transportation Fund provides grants to municipalities and businesses to enhance public transportation across Pennsylvania. Grant requests can be no higher than $3,000,000.
“We’re going to put that application in by the end of July,” Klabnik said. “This would come through next year and hopefully pay for the bulk of those projects.”
Usually, the recipient of any grant funding must provide at least 30% of its own funding as a match. However, according to township engineer Shawn Wingrove, a municipality can request the matching requirement be completely waived.
The Commonwealth Financing Authority previously awarded Winfield Township $130,000 for the replacement of the Center and Helmhold avenue bridges in early 2024 through the same grant.
According to Klabnik, the three bridge replacement projects will all be condensed into one contract when they are ready to go up for bid.
“We’re doing the three bridges with the same contract,” Klabnik said. “We’ll save money because we’ll have one contractor deployed to do three bridges.”
