The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is alerting motorists that preliminary work on a bridge replacement project in Bradford Township, McKean County, is slated to begin Monday. The bridge spans Toad Hollow Creek on Route 4007 (South Avenue) near the Owens Way intersection. Replacing the structure will allow PennDOT to remove it from McKean County’s list of bridges in poor condition.

Work on this project will be done in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and state Department of Health guidance as well as a project-specific COVID-19 safety plan, which will include protocols for social distancing, use of face coverings, personal and job site cleaning protocols, management of entries to the job site and relevant training.

The contractor will begin building a retaining wall at the site Monday. This work will occasionally require flaggers to be in the roadway enforcing an alternating traffic pattern. One lane of traffic will remain open to traffic throughout construction of the retaining wall.

Once the retaining wall is complete, a detour will be implemented so demolition of the existing structure can proceed. The detour will make use of U.S. Route 219, Route 4015 (Elm Street) and Congress Street before reconnecting with Route 4007. This detour is tentatively scheduled to be implemented June 15. PennDOT will issue an update prior to implementation of the detour.

Businesses along Route 4007 will remain open and accessible to the public for the duration of the project.

Overall work includes demolition of the existing bridge, installation of a new precast concrete box culvert, paving, utility relocation, guide rail updates and miscellaneous construction. PennDOT anticipates reopening the bridge to traffic in mid-September.

The existing bridge was built in 1920, is 19-feet long and carries an average of more than 1,200 vehicles per day.