As many of you know, one of my pet projects are the old trestles that span Iron and Spring Streets. Other than a visual inspection that resulted in some new signage being added and a rotted timber or two being removed, they hadn’t received a proper bridge inspection since nobody knows when.
I have little worry that the iron sections will fail, but the timber supports and cross ties spanning the trestles worry me, as does the thought of illegal access on those trestles resulting in serious injury and a lawsuit that would surely follow such an event.
In order to alleviate much of the expense in addressing the trestles, I led the charge to possibly incorporate them into the D&L Trails system. Doing so would open up the opportunity for grants.
I invited Wilson Borough to join West Easton in the trail effort because they have half ownership of the trestle that crosses Iron Street. Their Councilman, Scott Palinkas, approached others on the Wilson Council after I contacted him to discuss the possibility.
In order to actually start a project required an inspection by a certified bridge inspector. With the appropriate share of funds contributed from Wilson Borough, support letters from D&L Trails and elected officials at the state level, a matching grant was awarded from Northampton County to not only do a proper inspection, but a feasibility study of the trestles for trail use.
The grant saved us half the cost.
As it turns out, I must be a stable genius. The full cost of an inspection would have been incurred by West Easton if I had listened to a couple of residents who told me to “just ignore the trestles.” I was told that I might be opening up a can of worms.
Yesterday, PennDOT sent letters to owners of bridges that it is now MANDATORY to have these bridges inspected by a certified bridge inspector.
PennDOT has given just 60 days to have the inspections completed or face sanctions. Their letter can be read HERE.
The signed grant from NorCo arrived to us just last Friday.
As other municipalities now scramble to find funds and a certified inspector, West Easton and Wilson should have the trestle inspections done well before the 60-day deadline and we’ll know exactly what can be done with them.
Disclaimer: On January 4, 2016, the owner of WestEastonPA.com began serving on the West Easton Council following an election. Postings and all content found on this website are the opinions of Matthew A. Dees and may not necessarily represent the opinion of the governing body for The Borough of West Easton.
