SKINNERS FALLS, NY and MILANVILLE, PA — No one got arrested, in the end. 

Sheila Dugan stood behind the caution tape on the Pennsylvania side of the Skinners Falls Bridge the morning of Wednesday, March 19, protesting the bridge's planned destruction. Behind her, across the river, dump trucks piled stone into the Delaware River, building out the causeway that will help the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) bring the bridge down. 

Around her, friends and family members pleaded with her to stand down from her post before law enforcement had to intervene. Pennsylvania state troopers and yellow-vested construction workers stood by, watching the scene unfold. 

After some persuasion Dugan eventually moved off the bridge, arm in arm with other members of the local community. However, she made it clear as she left that she had not abandoned her position on the bridge. 

"I'm not happy that nobody was standing with me on the bridge," Dugan said. "I'm on the bridge to save the bridge; I want to save the bridge. I don't want us to tear the bridge down."

Voices of the local community

PennDOT plans to demolish the Skinners Falls Bridge by the end of May, claiming that the deterioration of the bridge is so advanced that it is no longer possible for the bridge to safely remain standing. Members of the local community have protested, claiming that it is still possible for the bridge to  be repaired. 

"This is not a modern transportation bridge," says lifelong area resident Jeff Dexter. He says there are engineers and construction companies that specialize in historic preservation, and that PennDOT's focus is on modern transportation. 

Rose Biondi, who lives on the Pennsylvania side of the river—part time for 20 years, full time for six—says she "can't wrap my head around" why PennDOT would take it down. 

Over the 20 years she's been coming to the Upper Delaware, it has been noticeable that PennDOT clearly hasn't been maintaining the Skinners Falls Bridge, she says. "It pretty much deteriorated under their watch."

"It is a beautiful, historic bridge, and I think it sort of added to the community," she says. 

Crossing to the other side

Area residents say that, when the bridge was open, it was a constantly-used resource in the local area. 

"We miss it," says one life-long resident on the PA side, named Bonnie. She says residents "used it for everything," including walks, getting groceries and seeing family.

The campers from Lander's, a canoe livery and campground on the New York side, also regularly used the bridge, Biondi says—a lot of their customers would walk back and forth to go to the Milanville General Store. 

Rick Lander, Lander's owner, confirms that former use, and says he wishes they had kept the bridge for pedestrian and bicycle usage. He adds that he feels sorry for the owner of neighboring business, Lou's Tubes, who has his business on the New York side of the river and his home on the Pennsylvania side. 

Construction continues at the Skinners Falls Bridge.

RR photo by Liam Mayo

What comes next?

Dugan says her house is two doors down from the bridge. "That's the Skinner's Falls house," she says. 

"The Skinners Falls Bridge is the oldest bridge on the whole Upper Delaware, and they're going to tear it down, for no reason. They need to fix it," she says. 

She says she thinks PennDOT will listen to her plea, to the community's sentiment. Other members of the community are less hopeful. 

"To me, it feels like a train moving fast forward without an emergency brake," says Biondi. 

She says that, unless PennDOT can put up something that replicates the look and feel of the Skinners Falls Bridge, she doesn't want a bridge in that location. "I don't want a new bridge, because they'll put up a two lane bridge," she says. 

Dexter says he's not hopeful PennDOT will put a new bridge in place, due to the cost. Even if it did, he says, "Look at that setting; look at that bridge. It belongs here."