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The Worst Bridge in Clarion County
By Hank Hufnagel in the Clarion News
I suppose you are well aware of the infamous Act 44 that will place tolls on I-80. Suddenly the people most responsible for our future are not government officials but representatives of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Mr. Joseph Brimmeier, who seems to want us to call him "Joe," is its Chief Executive and the most public spokesman for these new arrangements. I read Joe's public pronouncements and find most of them maddening.
For instance, Joe frequently mentions the "mandates of Act 44," almost, it seems, with a hint of sadness, as though this whole business of tolling I-80 has somehow been forced upon him, as it has on us. In reality, of course, the Turnpike was hip deep in the negotiations that led the legislature to ignore the recommendations of the Transportation Funding and Reform Commission and get the ball rolling to extract miles of green from I-80, with precious little input from those who will be flattened in the process.
Joe is also fond of saying, "Not one dime of tolls from I-80 will go to mass transit anywhere in the commonwealth." I think this is so much guff. The rivers of cash flowing from I-80 toll gates will allow toll money from the Pennsylvania Turnpike to be funneled to mass transit. Without I-80 tolling this would not be possible. Joe's words may be literally true, but they don't tell the whole story. We all know the flow of bucks from the northern tier of Pennsylvania will facilitate the funding of bargain bus rides in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.
Last Saturday in a full page letter in the Derrick, Joe stated that, "This law will allow Pennsylvania to generate $116 billion over 50 years to invest in roads, bridges and transportation systems -including 75 structurally deficient bridges in Clarion County alone - without raising taxes." Well, I don't know about that, either. Act 44 seems like a new kind of tax to me; a tax that places a disproportionate burden on the communities that over the past 40 years have come to rely upon a free I-80, a tax that will in a hundred ways diminish the satisfaction of our lives. What struck me most, though, was the part about Clarion County alone having 75 structurally deficient bridges. Were there really that many state bridges in the county? Are they all in imminent danger of collapse? It sort of sounds that way, don't you think? But, was this the truth? Was this the whole truth?
Knowing Joe's tendencies, I decided to look into the matter and quickly found some answers on PENNDOT's website:
• There are 25,207 bridges in Pennsylvania, 24% (6,049) of which are classified as "structurally deficient" by PENNDOT.
• Of these 6049 deficient bridges just 17% (1010) are located in counties along the I-80 corridor. There are indeed 75 deficient bridges in Clarion County, which is about 1% of the statewide total.
• A structurally deficient bridge is safe, but in need of costly repairs or replacement to bring it to current standards. PENNDOT closes bridges that are unsafe and posts weight limits on those deemed inadequate to handle heavy loads. Currently there are no closed or posted state-maintained bridges in Clarion County.
PENNDOT inspects all bridges in the state and assigns a "sufficiency rating" to each. The method of arriving at this number is too complicated to go into here, but it is an interesting fact that only one bridge in all of Clarion County has a perfect score of 100. You will never guess where that piece of concrete excellence is located. Its not the 1987 bridge over the Clarion River west of Clarion on Route 322. That one has a rating of 95.2. Toby bridge, which spans the river just north of town, is worse than that, garnering a rating of 89.8. The Cooksburg bridge, again over the Clarion River, gets an 81.4. The huge slanting bridge over the Allegheny at Parker rates only a 59.9, and though not listed as structurally deficient, is rated by PENNDOT as "functionally obsolete."
Forget that best bridge for the moment. What I really wanted to find was not the best, but the worst bridge in the county. I longed to take a little drive and risk my bones by walking across. At first I thought it might be the bridge over the Allegheny at Foxburg, but for some reason that one is not listed as a Clarion County bridge. No loss, though. I guess I wouldn't count it anyway, since they are already hard at work on a replacement. After a couple more minutes I found the one I wanted in the list, grabbed my car keys, and set off on my little adventure. I drove down Fifth Avenue, which is not the shortest route, but would take me through Reidsburg, where the second worst bridge in the county is located. No, its not the bridge over Piney Creek. That one is rated at 93.2. However, just past that (don't blink or you'll miss it) Route 68 passes over a bridge above a now abandoned railroad right-of-way. That's the one. Built in 1983 and just 36 feet long, this nearly invisible structure has a rating of only 32.3. I stopped and had a look but for the life of me couldn't figure out why. PENNDOT knows what it's doing though, I would suppose.
Continuing with my primary mission, I took back roads from there down through Tintown and on to New Bethlehem, then turned for Summerville and drove 5 miles until I saw the sign for Mayport. Turning right onto Route 536, I drove a mile and there it was, the absolute worst bridge in all of Clarion County… built in 1895, with a sufficiency rating of just 31.9. I had expected something along the lines of the old skeletal Foxburg bridge, but no. The Mayport bridge look pretty much like any other older bridge. I chanced it and drove across to park on the other side, and the poor old thing didn't seem to shake or shimmy at all. Walking back on foot, I was immediately aware of the bridge's open deck… you know, the kind you can look down through and see dark waters beneath. The bridge itself is made of steel, a bit beaten up and in need of a coat of paint. The bridge piers beneath looked a bit iffy, too, at least in times when Redbank Creek decides to flood. On this particular sunny Sunday morning, though, all was peaceful and serene, and I couldn't work up any kind of a lump in my throat at all. A half dozen cars and trucks went zipping by as I walked along. Yeah, it's a bit decayed, but no one hesitates to use the thing. Its just a good old bridge still doing its duty after many a year, and worth a visit if only for the grand views it affords of Redbank Creek valley.
I stood at the middle, looking upstream and thought again about Joe Brimmeier's statement in the newspaper. Was it a lie? No, it was not. There are indeed 75 "structurally deficient" bridges in the county. It's just that term doesn't mean quite what you might think it does. The sky is not actually falling, it's just that some major work will be required sometime on down the line. I for one wouldn't mind paying my fair share to replace the Mayport bridge when that time comes. However far it may be from my everyday wanderings, it is still a bridge close to home, something that as a citizen of Clarion County I would expect to maintain with my tax dollars. My problem is not with the 75 bridges Joe mentions, but with the 5039 he does not. I-80 tolls will be invested not just along the I-80 corridor. No, no. The tolls we pay will fix bridges all over the state, fund new interstates south of Pittsburgh, be used in a hundred ways that have no connection with the people from whom the golden flood is being extracted. Joe can write what he likes, but I will never believe the tolling of I-80 to be anything but a failure of our state government and patently unfair to communities that rely upon an interstate that had been forever un-tolled.
And so, I got back to my car and re-crossed the old bridge. There is only one perfect bridge in all of Clarion County, and I thought I'd have a look on my way back home. Called "Seceder Ramp," this little honey was built in 1966 as part of what is now Exit 64 on I-80, out near Mechanicsville. PENNDOT's list says its 28 feet long, but for the life of me I couldn't find the thing. I dearly wish I had. I wonder at times about my own personal "sufficiency rating," and after 40 years of use, this perfect piece of gray concrete proves that age alone does not predict the fitness of a thing.
Old News of Clarion County