New Bridge Weight Restrictions Could Delay Fire Response in Lower Gwynedd

A combination of structural deterioration and lack of funding at the state level has led the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to recently impose new weight limit restrictions on 63 state bridges.
However, the weight limits may now impede fire department response in the township, specifically at two bridges, per township Manager Larry Comunale.
Of the 63 bridges receiving new weight restrictions, two of them are in Lower Gwynedd Township: a one-lane bridge at Gypsy Hill and Willow Run roads, off Penllyn Pike, and a bridge on Route 202/DeKalb Pike over the Wissahickon Creek.The one-lane bridge has a new restriction of 19 tons. Comunale said the bridge on 202 over the creek is "surprisingly" 30 tons.
"We’re still tyring to digest what that means," Comunale said. "The most significant result of that is fire trucks will not be able to go over either one."
Comunale planned on meeting with State Rep. Kate Harper, R-61, to get to the root of the issue. 
"If we can't get ladder trucks over two bridges, it possibly could delay response or require some other route to get to the scene," Comunale said. "We are still trying to digest the meaning of that." 
Per Fire Marshal Al Comly, one fire department ladder truck weighs about 70,000 pounds, or 35 tons, Comunale said.
"We're a bit over that on the 202 bridge," he said.
Comunale said deteriorating bridges—and lack of funds to repair them—are crises throughout Pennsylvania.
"At a meeting (in August), I was told school buses are going over certain bridges in the Commonwealth—they unload the students, the students walk across the bridge, and the bus drives over the bridge and they put the students back in the bus," Comunale said. "We’re not at that stage, but there are places in Pennsylvania where that is occurring."