East Greenville Council reviewed options for repairing a bridge near its water plant in Upper Hanover earlier this month. Borough Manager Jim Fry presented the details of an alternatives analysis report from Montgomery County officials to make the Fruitville Road bridge viable.

            According to Fry, the township's elected officials and administrators have received multiple options for the remediation over Perkiomen Creek. He said they favor a plan to replace the old structure with a new bridge, though they have no say in the outcome.

            Upper Hanover officials described that option as the most cost-effective, according to Fry. A township supervisor confirmed that assertion, describing it as the "only realistic option" for the bridge that has been closed for 18 years. The borough manager described it as his recommended solution in an email message received late Tuesday afternoon.

            During the July 8 council meeting, Fry also identified the other options that included doing nothing, rehabilitating the current structure, rehabilitating the current bridge while building a new one next to it, replacing the bridge with a new alignment and replacing the bridge further downstream. 

            The realignment would intrude in the water plant's right of way, noted the East Greenville manager. He told council that whatever option is chosen, the work "is not going to happen anytime soon."

            In June, township supervisors were alerted that the project has been placed on the state's Transportation Improvement Program, the region's capital budget for allocating federal and state transportation funding to priority projects over a 12-year period, according to the most recent Comprehensive Plan published by the Upper Perkiomen Valley Regional Planning Commission.

            Montgomery County and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation took multiple years to complete the report and get the project on the TIP list, according to Anne W. Klepfer, Upper Hanover's manager. In an email message received Wednesday morning, she wrote that the township and the county have reached an agreement regarding to the bridge ownership and maintenance. She suggested it be accessed through a Right to Know request.

            The 451-foot bridge – built in 1905, with 7,306 square feet of deck area – was closed in 2006 and declared structurally deficient. According to Fry, the county owns the structure and is responsible for its maintenance.

            This project involves rehabilitating or replacing the existing structure comprised of a stone masonry viaduct with two, three-span stone-masonry arch spans and a 110-foot-long steel, pin-connected, Pratt thru truss span, according to information posted on the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Committee's website.

            The Montgomery County website states that the project is in the engineering and planning phases. Construction is anticipated to begin in 2027 with completion in 2029.

            The bridge is planned for rehabilitation in the short-term and complete replacement in the years ahead, according to the website. Future maintenance of the bridge will require additional resource time, materials and supplies adding new annual operating expenditures beginning in 2029.

            Federal grants will fund 80 percent of the project cost, according to information posted on the county website. The Commonwealth (15 percent) and the county (five percent) will cover the remaining cost. Page 102 of the UPVRPC's plan, published last fall, identifies the cost of replacing the bridge at $7.254 million.