State does has long-term plan to replace the 87-year-old Hopewell Borough bridge.
By John Tredrea
Repairs to the North Greenwood Avenue bridge in Hopewell Borough are scheduled to start next week and should take about three weeks to complete.
John Dourgarian, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation (DOT), said Tuesday afternoon that the state-funded project includes repairs to the sidewalk on the north side of the bridge, to the pavement on the bridge and on pavement approaching the bridge. The sidewalk on the north side of the span currently is closed due to deterioration.
Mr. Dourgarian said the state does not expect to have to close both lanes of the bridge at any time during the repairs. "So there will be no detours," he said.
The bridge, built in 1918, goes over the CSX tracks.
"In the 1970s, when a lot of railroads in the Northeast states were going bankrupt, Congress created Conrail," which also has used the tracks under the North Greenwood Avenue bridge, Mr. Dourgarian said.
"But the legislation did not address bridges that go over railroad tracks, such as the one on North Greenwood Avenue. Because of that gap in the legislation, the DOT has been given responsibility for maintaining bridges like this, known as ‘orphan bridges.’ There are about 120 of them in the state," Mr. Dourgarian said.
The state does have a long-term plan to replace the 87-year-old North Greenwood Avenue bridge, Mr. Dourgarian said.
"We have a project, currently in the design phase, to replace all or most of that bridge in early 2007, depending on availability of funds," he said.
He added that repairs might begin on Monday, or perhaps a day or two later.

