ZELIENOPLE — A planned bridge replacement on Route 68 may be tweaked to include a new sidewalk.

The state Department of Transportation is planning to replace the bridge on Route 68 that carries it over Glade Run this spring.

Since the current bridge and stretch of road coming to and from it does not have a sidewalk, the plans did not originally call for one.

Borough officials, however, would like to expand its sidewalks and petitioned PennDOT to include one for the new bridge, Manager Don Pepe said.

PennDOT project manager David Layman said the agency would like to accommodate the borough’s request, but would need to make numerous changes to contracts and plans that have already been approved.

“We understand the need there. This isn’t a done -deal type of thing,” he said about the contracts.

PennDOT already bought rights of way from adjoining property owners and a change to the plans might require them to purchase additional rights which could delay the project, he said.

Currently the road has sidewalks from Main Street west to Pine Street, but the borough would like to extend its sidewalks as far as the Timberbrook development, Pepe said.

Residents have requested more sidewalks and they would also make the road safer, Pepe said.

“It would allow more people to walk safely to Main Street and to and from that whole corridor,” Pepe said. “We have no safe pedestrian traffic-way there at all, the bridge allowance is very critical.”

While sidewalks would be ideal for pedestrian traffic, the original plans already called for extra wide shoulders, Layman said.

PennDOT guidelines require at least a 4-foot shoulder on each side for bridges, the Route 68 bridge plans call for 8-foot shoulders.

“This would be very conducive for pedestrians and bicyclists, an 8-foot shoulder,” Layman said. “It helps with snow plowing too, plow trucks will be able to move a few feet off the white line.”

If sidewalks were added, the shoulder would have to be made smaller to accommodate them, he said.

Layman said he expects to reach a decision on whether or not sidewalks can be included in the plans in a few weeks.

Construction on the bridge is planned to begin this spring and be completed by the fall.

To avoid a detour, one lane of the bridge will remain open at all times. Temporary traffic lights will be erected to control flow of traffic. PennDOT officials estimate that 4,500 vehicles travel over the bridge every day.

The project is one of 550 bridges in the state that is being replaced through PennDOT’s Public Private Partnership program, through which infrastructure improvements are funded with private money. The Route 68 bridge project is estimated to cost $1.5 million.