Carbon eyes cameras at covered bridge

Carbon County officials want to keep a closer eye on the covered bridge in Lower Towamensing Township after the latest incident that caused damage to the height restriction bars just before the bridge.

On Thursday, Commissioner Thomas J. Gerhard said that the county is probably going to install some cameras down at the bridge on Little Gap Road as a result of the most recent oversized vehicle attempting to cross the bridge.

In that instance, the vehicle hit the headache bar so hard that it actually flipped up and over the I-beam it was held on and snapped some of the chains holding the bar. Damage is estimated at $1,000.

Gerhard said the cameras will “alleviate a lot of problems for us.

“If someone whacks it next time, we will be able to identify that person or persons,” he added.

Commissioners’ Chairman Wayne Nothstein said that he was down at the bridge recently and noticed that the headache bars have multiple scrapes and scuffs, meaning a lot of vehicles have hit them.

In other matters, Nothstein said that the county saved a few hundred dollars recently after some of its fire alarms at the courthouse malfunctioned.

He said that the staff in the office was able to find the same model detector heads on eBay for less than $100 instead of purchasing them through the dealer at $600 for two.