142-Year-Old Devonshire Road Bridge to be Closed Until October

The 142-year-old in Salisbury Township, which made a list of structurally deficient bridges last year, will be closed for repairs beginning July 17.

The masonry arch deck bridge was built in 1870 and is also known as Rathburn Bridge. The bridge begins at Keystone Road and carries Devonshire Road over the Little Lehigh Creek. 

The $134,596 project will include replacing sections of the bridge’s concrete parapet, internal structural enhancements and milling and repaving of the roadway surface, according to the Lehigh County public information office.

The bridge is expected to reopen by the end of October, the county said.

The Devonshire Road Bridge was one of at least two bridges in Salisbury that were rated "structurally deficient" in a 2011 report by Transportation for America on the state of nation's bridges. The report, which identified it as the Salisbury Church Bridge, gave it a rating of 49.8 out of 100.

The other, a state-owned concrete bridge built in 1958 on Fish Hatchery Road and crosses the Little Lehigh Creek, was given 63.1 rating.

Pennsylvania topped the list with the worst bridges, with more than 25 percent needing significant maintenance, repair or replacement, according to the report.