Published in The Tribune-Democrat, by Kathy Mellott

March 13, 2014

A portion of the money Cambria County receives from the Marcellus Shale impact fee will be used to replace a bridge in the Mainline, one of a number of deteriorated structures owned by the county.

The commissioners on Thursday announced they will use the $200,000 they receive annually from a set-aside Marcellus fund to replace the 17-foot-long single-span bridge.

With an estimated price tag of $750,000, it will take multiple years of funding to complete the project, officials said.

As part of the process, the commissioners approved a resolution outlining policy and procedure for design consultants, a step that means the end product will meet PennDOT standards, county Solicitor Thomas Leiden said.

“These are PennDOT’s rules to go out and select the engineering firm to do the bridge work,” Leiden said.

All told, Cambria owns 26 bridges countywide, and attempts are being made to address those in the worst shape.

“We can use some of the Marcellus money to start attacking some of the structures with the largest problems,” President Commissioner Douglas Lengenfelder said.

Lengenfelder and Commissioners Thomas Chernisky and Mark Wissinger recently toured the worst of the structures and chose the Carney Crossing Bridge as the first, largely because of the impact on local residents.

“It’s not falling apart, but it was on the radar,” Chernisky said.

The single-lane bridge, built in 1917, is a concrete slab design allowing traffic to cross the Little Conemaugh River in an area between Lilly and Route 22 near Cresson.

“It’s amazing how many people use that road,” Wissinger said. “And if you’re one of those people, this bridge is very important.”

Daily vehicle usage was key in determining which bridge was moved to the top of the list, the commissioners said.

While the Red Mill Bridge in Blacklick Township is no longer open to traffic, when it was open it was relied upon by fewer people than the Carney bridge.

Design work will start this year, said Chris Allison, transportation planner with the Cambria County Planning Commission. Construction likely be in 2016.

Also in the works are plans to upgrade the Wildwood Bridge in the Clearfield-East Carroll area, a project which will be paid for by PennDOT.

The cost estimate for work on the span, which carries a 10-ton weight limit, is more than $1 million.

Allison said the Wildwood Bridge has been on PennDOT’s 12-year plan for some time, and preliminary engineering should be done this year.

The $200,000 the county receives from the Marcellus impact fee – known as Act 13 – is specifically for bridges and similar improvements, Lengenfelder said.

Cambria also receives $47,000 annually from Act 13, a figure based on the number of Marcellus wells in the county.

That funding will be used for improvements to Route 219 north of the four-lane outside Ebensburg to the Clearfield County line.

(Kathy Mellott, "County targets bad bridges," 4/13/14)