Engineering work promising in Tamaqua
Engineers from Eichelsbergers Inc. of Mechanicsburg drill bore holes along a sidewalk in Tamaqua on Wednesday, preliminary work on a project that would reinforce West Broad Street bridge over Wabash Creek. DONALD R. SERFASS/TIMES NEWS
They're not drilling for gold, but they might as well be.
Engineers from Eichelsbergers Inc. of Mechanicsburg have spent the past few days boring holes along West Broad Street in Tamaqua.
It's part of the preliminary engineering phase of a project that would result in improvements to a hidden, single-span, stone-arch bridge carrying a federal highway over the Wabash Creek.
The Route 209 Broad Street Bridge doesn't seem to be a bridge in the conventional sense. It's not something you can actually see.
In other words, when you're driving on West Broad Street and you pass the area of Wells Fargo Bank and La Dolce Casa restaurant, you're actually driving over the Wabash Creek bridge, buried several feet below.
It dates back to the 1850s and needs work.
Of course, it's not the only deficient bridge in the state.
A 2014 U.S. Department of Transportation National Bridge Inventory database found, in part, that cars, trucks and school buses cross Pennsylvania's 5,050 structurally compromised bridges 16.1 million times every day.
But Tamaqua's stone-arch bridge is far too antiquated. It was built to support the flow of horses and carriages of a bygone era and has never had a major overhaul.
Today, heavy trucks rumble over, exerting far more pressure and weight than ever imagined in 1850. School buses carrying our most precious cargo also travel over the span daily.
Flooding through the years, such as twice in 2006, and even earlier this year, may have compromised the bridge's integrity.
Thankfully, repairs are scheduled, and even though the improvements temporarily will alter the flow of traffic, the inconvenience will be worth it.
The Broad Street Wabash Street Project, scheduled for 2017, would provide for much-needed reinforcement.
It's time to make sure the ground beneath West Broad Street is solid.
"We're drilling to see how deep the piers can go," said a worker on Wednesday.
Those piers would help to support the roadway, adjacent businesses, heavy traffic, pedestrians, commuters and school buses.
It would be a project to protect everybody. Money well-spent.
So, in a sense, they're drilling for gold.
Donald R. Serfass | dserfass@tnonline.com
