Route 462 bridge: To close or not for upcoming rehabilitation project?

Plans to rehabilitate the historic Veterans Memorial Bridge over the Susquehanna River could include closing the span to traffic for about a year while work is done.

The estimated $54 million project is several years away, and bids are expected to be opened in 2022, said Mike Crochunis, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation.

It's still early in the process, but representatives of the state Department of Transportation and transportation planners met with local elected officials recently to discuss the options for the project.

Plans call for repairing the span, replacing the deck, creating a wider sidewalk, adding bicycle lanes among other improvements, local and state officials said.

One option would be to close the span to traffic for about a year. The other would be to restrict traffic to one direction, but the work would take twice as long.

Columbia Mayor Leo Lutz said he feels closing the bridge is a better option for safety and efficiency. If the span would close during construction, gates could be installed on Route 30 so that, in case of a crash on the Route 30 bridge, traffic could be shifted and taken down to one lane in each direction, Lutz said. 

The Route 462 bridge closed to traffic in the late 1980s when the last rehabilitation project was done, said Will Clark, chief of transportation planning with the York County Planning Commission.

"PennDOT has proposed a plan to address traffic if Route 30 would be closed due to a crash, which would be our biggest concern for a full closure," he said.

Wrightsville Borough Council president Eric White said closing Veterans Memorial Bridge also would allow contractors to produce a better quality product on the historic span.

The work will have a serious impact on the communities, White said. Events, such as the Bridge Bust, are held on the span, and that's another reason to look for a one-year closure than to prolong the construction.

"It has to be done," White said of the rehabilitation project. "The bridge is falling apart."

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Improvements on the Wrightsville side

Transportation planners are looking to address problems with the Route 462, Second Street and Hellam Street intersection at the end of the bridge in Wrightsville, Clark said. The York Area Metropolitan Planning Organization has approved a cost concept up to $450,000.

One of the solutions is an oval roundabout, White said. However, he's concerned with industries in the borough that trucks might opt to use the in-town roads to reach Route 30.

"I don't see how they're going to use that roundabout," he said.

White said he'd like to see a traffic light, which would help with fire trucks leaving the nearby fire station and entering the intersection. 

Solution for the mayflies

Officials also asked PennDOT to consider putting lights underneath Veterans Memorial Bridge to help with the mayflies, Lutz said.

Columbia borough has turned off the lights on the bridge during the spring hatch. Piles of dead mayflies have covered the bridge during the hatch in the past, blocking sidewalks and spilling into the road.

By putting lights underneath the bridge, the hope is the mayflies will swarm to those instead.

The underneath lights also would be attractive, White said.

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