Ever since the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation began talking about replacing the Route 926 Bridge over the Brandywine Creek, people have been concerned about how long the work would take.
The bridge is a heavily trafficked link between Birmingham, Pennsbury and Pocopson townships and is a major route for school buses in the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District. As residents know, the approaches to the bridge flood when the creek spills its banks, making it impassable.
Early estimates, from at least 10 years ago, had the bridge shut down for possibly up to two years. The current estimate is 18 months, but that’s still considered too long by some.
Among those who don’t like that timeframe is John Sanville, superintendent of schools for U-CFSD. Sanville sent out an e-mail to district families asking them to contact state officials — state Sen. Dominic F. Pileggi and state Rep. Stephen Barrar — asking their help in getting PennDOT to get the job done more quickly.
“We’d like to see the project done as quickly as possible,” Sanville said in an interview. “Right now the plan is to work eight-hour days for 18 months. Well, if we work 16-hour days, can we be done in a year? If we work 24-hour days can we be done in six months? That certainly would be better for our kids.”
As things stand now, routes 1, 52 and 202 would be used for the detours and that would have school students on the bus for a much longer time during their commutes to and from school.
The school district requested, and has been granted, consulting party status on the project and is included in all meetings. PennDOT officials also confirmed that the district has asked that the job get done in a shorter amount of time than the estimated 18 months.
According to PennDOT’s Chuck Davies — in charge of engineering and design for the Philadelphia Metropolitan Region —speeding up the work is possible, but there’s nothing definitive yet.
“The school district did express that concern, but there are a number of things that go into schedules. Engineers under contract are reluctant to give answers without due consideration and without running the costs, so they’re in the process of doing that,” Davies said.
The work contract has not yet been written and the design is not completed, Davies added saying all people have to do is express their concerns and PennDOT will work to address them.
“We do that in other locations where construction schedules are an issue and we can accelerate it and we can have extended hours. It requires coordination with the townships…All they have to do is ask,” he said. “We should be able to shave off months of the preliminary estimates of construction time.”
As far as the politicians are concerned, Barrar said he could easily get behind having the work contract call for extended hours if that would help get the job done in less than 18 months.
Pileggi has not yet responded to a request for comment.
The job is anticipated to begin in August of 2015 and the cost estimate is currently $8 million to $10 million. Both the bridge span and the approaches are to be raised at least three feet, Davies said.
About Rich Schwartzman
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
