Bridge beam discussed at meeting
BY SUSAN BRYANT
During the Heidelberg supervisors Feb. 15 meeting, Engineer Geoff Dean said the main item on his agenda for the evening was the Rex Road Bridge beam replacement.
“I prepared and sent over an estimate, even with limiting it to just the things the township can do, it is still obviously a very expensive undertaking,” Dean said.
“Hopefully, the senator’s (Jarrett Coleman) office can help out with some funding for one or both of those projects.
“But it sounds like the discussion really needs to revolve around sequencing between Buckery Road Bridge and Rex Road Bridge.
“Rex Road is a maintenance item and it’s just a matter of how you want to go about it.
“Can you live with pushing that off until the funding is hopefully made available for Buckery (Road) or not?
“From a timing perspective, just for your own information the beams that need to be put in for Rex Road are 8 to 10 weeks from the time you award the contracts to do the work.
“Even if you were to go out to bid in the next month or two, and hypothetically awarded to a contractor, it would still be two or three months to even get the beams delivered.”
Township Secretary and Zoning Officer Dawn Didra asked Dean for an estimate on how long the road would need to be closed.
“Probably our best guess is about two weeks,” he replied.
“If you went with Rex (Road) in the meantime while we’re looking for funding for Buckery (Road), you are without both of them for probably about two weeks.
Supervisor Chairman David Fink then asked Dean if the bid package is available if the board decides to go forward with Rex Road.
“No. But it won’t take that long to put that together, just a couple of weeks if you want us to do that,” Dean responded.
After further discussion, Fink said he would recommend they not take any action at this time and keep Rex Road on the agenda for next month’s meeting.
Dean concluded the discussion.
“The good thing about the beam replacement project ... is you’re going to have many, many, many years of effectively no maintenance on that bridge, Rex Road,” Dean said.
In other business, the board approved appointing Kevin Klase to fill the planning commission vacancy expiring Dec. 31, 2026, and Matthew Schneider to fill the other planning commission vacancy expiring Dec. 31, 2024.
Supervisors also named Jeffrey Kistler and Virginia Harwood as alternate nonvoting members of the planning commission with terms expiring Dec. 31, 2027.