EMPORIUM — The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is alerting area drivers to the start of bridge replacement work on Route 46 in Cameron County, about eight miles north of Emporium
The 17-foot bridge spans North Creek on Route 46 in Shippen Township. It dates from 1931 and carries an average of almost 500 vehicles each day. Replacing the bridge will improve its rating from poor to good.
Crews will be working to mobilize equipment, install erosion and sediment controls, and begin construction of a two-lane, temporary roadway. During this first phase of work, drivers will encounter an alternating traffic pattern enforced by roadway flaggers. Drivers should expect short travel delays.
Once the temporary road is complete, traffic will use it to move through the work zone and work to replace the bridge will begin. Overall work includes removal of the existing Single Span Reinforced Concrete Slab bridge, construction of a new Precast Reinforced Concrete Box Culvert, approach work consisting of base, binder and wearing courses, guide rail updates, drainage, pavement markings, and miscellaneous items.
The contractor on this $1 million job is Dean Construction Inc. of Smethport. Work will take place through early November and is weather and schedule dependent.
