Luzerne County Council calls meeting on West Hazleton bridge funding

A special Luzerne County Council meeting has been scheduled Tuesday to consider a requested federal American Rescue Plan funding increase for a West Hazleton bridge project, council members said.

Council held its last regularly scheduled 2023 voting meeting this week and chose to remove the bridge funding request from that agenda.

Councilman Brian Thornton had proposed deferring a vote, saying there were too many outstanding questions and that it should be decided by the reorganized council in 2024.

Since then, council Vice Chairman John Lombardo said the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has indicated it would provide an additional $250,000 in discretionary funding toward the increased bridge costs if the county earmarks the remaining $425,000. The urgency of that development prompted the move for a special meeting so council can reconsider, he said.

Council already had earmarked $850,000 in American Rescue funds toward rehabilitation of the Jaycee Drive Bridge over Black Creek.

West Hazleton has asked council to provide an additional $675,000 because it was determined during initial excavation that the south bridge abutment cannot be saved due to reinforcing bars that are “totally corroded,” the agenda said. The borough indicated it did not have additional funds to proceed with the project.

Closure of the bridge due to deterioration has forced detours through a residential neighborhood and limited access to 50 businesses employing 2,500, creating concerns if there is a fire or chemical spill, borough officials have said.

Now-former county councilman Tim McGinley said Thursday he requested the new $250,000 in state funding to assist residents and businesses that rely on the bridge and reduce the additional funds sought from the county. McGinley won’t be participating in next week’s special meeting because he was sworn in as a Wyoming Valley West School Board member, prompting him to step down from the county council seat instead of serving through the end of this month.

County Councilman Gregory S. Wolovich Jr. said Thursday he also has been inquiring about other funding opportunities that could further reduce the amount of additional county funding needed for the project.

Thornton said Thursday he has requested information he wants to review before he would consider another large grant for the bridge, including the original engineer’s estimate and bid specifications for the project.

Now retired, Thornton has a mechanical engineering degree and worked as a project engineer in New York City before becoming a financial advisor.

An abutment is the “whole anchoring system at each end of the bridge,” and he said the potential for an unsalvageable south abutment should have been anticipated when the project was bid out due to the “drastic failure of the north abutment.” Both abutments were constructed at the same time, he said.

Thornton said he wants to establish how the project was bid out. The base bid should include all potential work associated with the bridge replacement, including replacing both abutments, to ensure a “fair competitive field” for all prospective contractors and the best price for taxpayers funding the project, he said.

Adding the south abutment replacement to the project after the fact and outside of the bidding process would concern him, he said.

Lombardo said he visited the ceremonial bridge groundbreaking with several other council members in November and got to know borough officials and the importance of the project. As a result, he said he was surprised when the additional funding request suddenly appeared on this week’s agenda because no borough government officials had contacted him to discuss the problem.

“I hope it can come to a resolution. Council is stuck between a rock and a hard place,” Lombardo said.

The county has approximately $3.75 million in remaining American Rescue funding not earmarked for projects, which includes $2.35 million in interest earnings, according to county Budget/Finance Division Head Mary Roselle.

Tuesday’s special meeting starts at 4:30 p.m. at the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre. Instructions for remote attendance will be posted under council’s online meetings link at luzernecounty.org.