Longer, wider bridge reopens in Middlesex
MIDDLESEX TWP — The first of 558 state bridges set to be replaced in a public-private partnership opened in the township Friday morning.
The West Cruikshank Road bridge crossing over Glade Run had been closed since mid-June.
“One down, 557 to go,” said Dan Galvin, a spokesman for Plenary Walsh Keystone Partners, the group designated to finance, design, replace and maintain the bridges for 25 years.
The state Department of Transportation earlier this year finalized its $899 million Rapid Bridge Replacement Project contract with the group that will replace 558 bridges across the state during the next three years, including 11 in Butler County.
The idea of grouping the similar-sized bridges into a large bid allows the projects to be completed quicker and at a lower cost than typical PennDOT projects. Grouping the bridge work together allows for the contractor to use economies of scale in each phase of design and construction, reducing the price of the projects.
The average project cost per bridge is $1.6 million, Galvin said. Through PennDOT’s standard process, the cost to build and to maintain a bridge would average more than $2 million.
The work on West Cruikshank Road was done by Clearwater Construction. The Pennsylvania-based bridge and highway contractor completed the job about five days ahead of schedule.
Galvin said the new crossing is longer and wider than the one it replaced and is designed to last up to 100 years. The original bridge was built in 1929 and carried about 1,000 vehicles per day.
Two other bridges in Butler County are set to be replaced this year — Caldwell Drive over a tributary of Thorn Creek in Jefferson Township and Saxonburg Boulevard over Bull Creek in Clinton Township.
