Terwood Road Closed For Bridge Replacement

A local area bridge that has stood since 1925 is on its last leg … literally.

PennDOT announced construction will begin Monday, March 21 to replace the tributary to the Pennypack Creek on Terwood Road.

Terwood Road will be closed and detoured between Route 63 and Washington Lane through mid-October. The detour route will follow Route 63 (Old Welsh Road) and Washington Lane. Local access, however, will still be maintained up to the closure points (Route 63 and Valley roads).  Motorists should allow extra time if they are traveling through this area.

“The actual closure points are Route 63 and Valley Road,” PennDOT safety press officer Jenny Robinson said. “We are required to use state routes as our local detour routes. If local residents want to use their own back roads they can, but I’m not sure if there are any shorter routes than that.”

This project requires a full replacement, which involves completely tearing up the old bridge, rather than doing patchwork on the old structure. The crews will replace the deteriorating steel bridge with a concrete box bridge. The new structure will be 30 feet wide (eight feet wider than the current one). This allows for shoulders on both sides of the road and will meet the width of the approaching roadway.

“The bridge was built in 1925,” Robinson said. “It’s an old bridge. We have many, many bridges throughout the state they are quite old, and after a certain point become deteriorated. Some of them just need to be replaced, and some we are able to rehabilitate. It depends on the structure of the bridge and its condition.”

Unfortunately for local travelers, this time it's the ladder. The contract states the construction must be completed within seven months. But the majority of the workload will depend on the weather and if Mother Nature allows the construction workers to get the job done.

“We have a lot of bridge projects and they are usually several months,” Robinson said. “It depends on how much work needs to be done. This is an actual replacement. They have to finish it by a certain date under the contract. October 14^th is the exact finish date, but that’s the last possible date. A lot of it is weather dependant.”

The project – headed by Loftus Construction Inc. of Cinnaminson, N.J. – will cost $858,650 and is funded 100-percent by the state.

“When you have deterioration around the structure you have to rebuild or replace the actual structure,” Robinson added. “This is just a question of time and weather. These bridges can only last so long. They only have a certain lifespan.”

If you know of any good detours to avoid this construction, drop us a line here and let us know.