Two train trestles in West Easton are finally heading for the chopping block. Eventually.
West Easton was awarded a LSA MONROE COUNTY GRANT in the amount of $130,400, and a LSA NORTHAMPTON LEHIGH COUNTY GRANT of $24,700. The total of $155,100 may be enough money to remove one trestle, before applying for additional grants to remove the second.
There is a trestle over Iron Street.
Only half of this one is owned by West Easton, as it spans the border with Wilson Borough.
The other trestle is over Spring Street, just up the hill from Borough Hall. West Easton owns all of this one.
Though there are chain link fences where the trestles begin, and warning signs posted to prevent people from walking on top of them, adolescent youths still manage to get around the barriers and ignore the warning signs, on occasion.
The trestles are also in disrepair.
To the best of my knowledge, they were purchased from the railroad in the late 70s or early 80s for $1.00, along with the right-of-way along the tracks that once ran through the borough. Despite the trestles being at the end of their life-expectancy and usefulness, West Easton assumed the cost of their eventual repair, or removal.
The Council back then, and future councils, kicked the can down the road by ignoring the trestles, knowing that the pricey problem would eventually have to be addressed. Just, not by them.
By 2017, it was obvious to a new Council that a proper assessment of the trestles had to be made by a qualified engineering firm. Rotting wood and rusting steel was apparent. A proper engineering inspection had to be done to find out exactly how bad they were, and the report would be needed if we hoped to get grants to repair, or remove them.
The cost for the in-depth inspections for both trestles was $48,000. A grant for half that amount was obtained by West Easton, and with Wilson paying 1/4 of what remained (their share of cost), West Easton paid $18,000. The Trestle Reports were issued in January of 2019 following the inspection performed in late 2018. It isn’t a good report on the condition of the trestles.
In early 2018, an attempt to make the trestles part of the Lehigh Valley Walking Trail didn’t get far, though a meeting was held in January of that year, with a number of interested parties in attendance. It was hoped they would be able to obtain funding to repair/replace the trestles (there is a great view at the top), but they required an engineering report, and not the visual inspection performed by the DOT. When they realized it could cost about $850,000 to repair/rebuild the trestles they lost interest in moving forward.
Funding for the trestles repair on a historical basis was looked into. As it turned out, there’s nothing historical about them. There are hundreds just like them in the state, I was told in phone calls. Neither of them are the biggest, longest, oldest, or have any notable quality of historical value. They weren’t even used as part of a passenger line. Nothing but coal, and possibly equipment deliveries, as part of a spur line.
But, as it turned out, the timing of the Trestle Engineering Report being done, and money spent, paid dividends. Months after ours was completed, the state issued a mandate that all bridges and spans over roadways were required to have a proper engineering report completed by municipalities that owned them. They wanted more than the simple visual inspection report performed by the DOT.
That report was also the foundation for proving the need for these latest grants, in having the trestles removed. Without it, we would have had little chance of being awarded this $155,000, saving local residents from tax increases to fund the project.
Back in 2019, the estimate for removing both trestles was $180,000. $60,000 for the one over Iron St., and $120,000 for the Spring St. trestle. Considering costs for everything have increased since 2019, it’s likely only the Spring Street trestle will be removed using these latest grant awards, with additional grant applications made to address the trestle over Iron Street.
Council will be deciding at a future date on a course of action regarding the grants now received. It will have to seek bids from those who are qualified in removing bridges and properly disposing of its parts, including wood soaked in toxic creosote.
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.
