Where's the Urgency on Closed High Street Bridge? [Letter]

To the editor:

I live on Washington Street in Hellertown and used to be able to avoid Rt. 412 when going into Bethlehem. I would take High Street to Ravena and continue on the back roads until getting to the Lynn Street Bridge that comes out onto 412.

More than two years ago the "powers that be" decided that the bridges along High Street could no longer support traffic, so they simply put up a "Road Closed" sign and went about their merry way. Of course there is the usual finger pointing—Hellertown says it's Bethlehem's fault and Bethlehem says it's Hellertown's problem, and they both blame Norfolk-Southern Railroad. There seems to be absolutely no sense of urgency to get the roads open again.

I can't believe that a major metropolitan area decides that a road that was open to the public and used can just be "closed" for an indefinite period of time.

I have spoken to several people about the issue, but they just make excuses and say that it will be fixed "sometime in 2014 or 2015!"

Can something be done to get these roads open as soon as possible?

Christine Widgren

Hellertown