LEMOYNE, Pa. -- How do you build an 840-ton bridge onto one of the Capital Region's busiest stretches of highway while not causing a traffic nightmare? Welcome to PennDOT's version of "Mission Impossible."
Fortunately for area motorists, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, along with Lancaster-based construction company J.D. Eckman, has developed an engineering plan more than a year and a half in the making. Beginning Friday at 6 p.m. and spanning nine days over the next four weekends, eight separate sections of already-constructed bridge will be placed along Route 581 in Lemoyne. With no delays, the project should be finished by the middle of July.
"It's a significant undertaking," senior project engineer Brian Moore says. "If you were to build this bridge conventionally with phasing traffic, our estimate would be that it would take us a year and a half or more to complete."
PennDOT's official detour takes motorists from the PA-581/U.S. 15 interchange westbound to I-81 North towards I-83 South and around the Capital Beltway. The 25-mile detour could take 30 minutes or more. Local drivers would be expected to use the Harvey Taylor or Market Street Bridges to get downtown, or Gettysburg Road to Carlisle Road in New Cumberland.
"We would not be directing interstate traffic to do that," PennDOT spokesperson Mike Crochunis said, "but if your destination is local that would be a viable option."
PennDOT needs to replace the structurally-deficient bridge on Rt. 581 which runs over 10th Street in Lemoyne. Currently 13'10" high, it will be replaced with a bridge 14'7 1/2".
On Friday night after work-traffic has died down, PennDOT plans on closing PA-581 eastbound from U.S. 15 in Camp Hill to Interstate 83 in Lemoyne. Traffic along route 581 will continue westbound, but reduced to one lane. Construction workers will then demolish the 10th Street bridge moving eastbound. Tenth Street itself will also be closed, allowing a specialized crane shipped to the United States from Austria to park in the road and maneuver the four beams, each averaging over 100 tons, onto the highway.
All sections of the road have been built over the course of the last few months, Moore said. "Now we’re left with four individual sections that we will truck down Lowther St. and 10th St. on special haulers and then we’ll use a very large crane to set them into place."
This weekend, the focus is on the eastbound lanes. Next week, the westbound lanes will be placed. By the middle of July, PennDOT will be completed with the Route 581 project and traffic will resume as normal.