KINGSTON TWP. — Fabcor Inc. filed a time extension request to complete the bridge replacement project on Huntsville Road, the project manager said.
The bridge replacement project, located near The Lands at Hillside Farms in Shavertown, began May 27, 2015, and had estimated a completion date of Aug. 22, 2016, said Greg Parrs, the project manager and a Luzerne County engineer.
The time extension would give Fabcor Inc. of Jessup an additional 90 days to complete the project which would prolong the single-lane traffic pattern until November, James May, spokesperson for Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, said.
Parrs and May could not disclose the reasons behind the company’s extension request.
Parrs knew some changes were made to the project including modifications to the original sidewalk design. The sidewalk will be placed alongside the new bridge.
“It (the time extension request) not been approved yet,” Parrs said on Aug. 23.
On Aug. 24, construction crews were on site and making preparations to pour concrete for one of the bridge’s new abutments scheduled for later in that morning.
The bridge over Huntsville Creek was built and put into service in 1927. The original bridge consisted of “two 25-foot wide spans,” Parrs said. Over time, the bridge was changed to accommodate heavier vehicles and increase in traffic.
In August 2005, the Luzerne County Engineer’s office commissioned engineers to redesign the bridge to handle increasing traffic and repair the deteriorating infrastructure, Parrs said.
“There are a lot of trucks that pass through (Huntsville Road),” Parrs said. “It (Huntsville Road) is a connector road between routes 309 and 29, and routes 309 and 118.”
Parrs cited a 2009 traffic study on the road that reported 2,600 vehicles per day drive over the two-lane road.
Parrs was not sure what time of year the study was done, but when Penn State Wilkes-Barre on Huntsville Road in Lehman Township is holding classes, he estimated the traffic volume on Huntsville Road is closer to 3,000 vehicles per day.
