Pond Eddy Bridge to be replaced

Shohola asks UDC for support

By TOM KANE

SHOHOLA, PA — It’s been seven years since the Shohola Township Board of Supervisors began pressing PennDOT to replace the Pond Eddy bridge. It was at that time that engineers deemed it inadequate and unsafe to allow heavy equipment like a fire engine to cross.

Meeting upon meeting was held by PennDOT and included groups that were concerned about the bridge, like the Friends of the Pond Eddy Bridge—a local group of residents who want to preserve and refurbish the historic bridge—the National Park Service, the Upper Delaware Council (UDC), the Federal Highway Administration, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, New York Office of Historic Preservation and the Pennsylvania Historic Museum Commission.

As recently as last week, the fate of the bridge was still being debated. At the most recent meeting, Lackawaxen resident Pat Carullo argued that a road, installed on the Pennsylvania side through the state forest, could be a solution.

PennDOT officials said that they would not be permitted to construct such a road through a state forest. Carullo responded by citing examples where gas drilling companies were permitted to lay road in the Allegheny State Forest. This solution was rejected outright by PennDOT officials.

At the same meeting, PennDOT announced the decision that, in the interest of safety and the health of residents, the agency had determined that the bridge will be replaced. The only question is how the process will work going forward.

In action taken last week, Shohola moved to press the township’s state and federal elected officials to urge the replacement of the old bridge and that the new one be built as quickly as possible. The board is asking the Upper Delaware Council (UDC) to urge its completion. UDC is expected to pass such a resolution at its next meeting on May 7, according to William Douglass, UDC executive director.

“We are sending our recommendation on the environmental issues to all concerned parties and awaiting a reaction from the Federal Highway Administration and the various historic preservation groups,” said Debbie Noone of PennDOT.

A positive response from these agencies, which is expected, would then put the process into the design phase, which would address what the new bridge would look like and how the old bridge’s historical significance would be preserved.

“We ask that all the fighting stop over the bridge and a decision to replace it is made soon so that nobody dies,” said Steven Dellert, supervisors’ chair. “We are concerned for the residents who cannot have their roads paved or cannot have an adequate protection from local fire companies. This condition has got to stop and we urge PennDOT to act as swiftly as possible.”