The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and Carbon County met with Penn Forest Township residents Wednesday night in an effort to address their concerns about the upcoming bridge replacement project on Hatchery Road.

The meeting at the Penn Forest Township municipal building was organized by state Rep. Doyle Heffley.

“The Turnpike is making a significant investment in replacing this bridge,” Heffley said. “It is an inconvenience, and we wanted to have a meeting with all the stake holders to come together and have a discussion on how we can alleviate as much burden as we can with the residents in the area.”

Work is scheduled to begin on March 1. It will involve closing the road for about seven months as the bridge, which spans the Turnpike, is replaced.

The detour will send motorists on a 25-mile trek around Beltzville Lake to Route 209 and back up the other side to Route 903. Residents say they learned about the project too late to be able to voice their concerns and have an impact on the project.

The road closure will affect businesses and eight homes with residents, many of whom are elderly and concerned about access to emergency medical care.

“Everybody on that road has major health problems,” said Keith Fox, who is one of the residents affected by the upcoming closure.

Fox said he did a right-to-know request and found out that the township received a letter in July 2021 about the project from the Turnpike Commission.

Roger Meckes, chairman of the Penn Forest Township supervisors, said he and the other supervisors did not know about the project that far back and the letter they received from the Turnpike Commission had few details.

“We did not know,” Meckes said.

Meckes said that he thought the Turnpike would have contacted residents and businesses, since it is their project. In hindsight, he thinks maybe they should have told residents, but didn’t since it is not a township project.

“It’s 1,000% out of our hands,” he said.

There were no public meetings about the bridge replacement project held by township or the Turnpike Commission.

Meckes said that he did contact the fire companies and emergency services when they received the letter, so that they could make plans on how to respond to emergencies during the closure.

Gary Williams, the director of Carbon County Communication Center, told residents to expect emergency response from several different service providers. Those in the region have been notified in order to get the quickest response to the residents.

For example, he said, if Lehighton Ambulance-Penn Forest is busy with a call, another ambulance company will move closer to the residents in case they are needed.

“You’re going to get the help you need,” he said. “I don’t think you’re going to see a response difference.”

The turnpike commission said the bridge has to be replaced, because the deterioration poses a potential hazard to motorists. It said about 26,000 motorists per day drive on Interstate 476 through that stretch and 350 vehicles on Hatchery Road that runs across the bridge over I-476.

Heffley said the bridge, built more than 60 yeas ago, is nearing the end of its life span.

“It’s all about public safety,” Heffley said. “We are trying to do everything we can for all the parties involved.”

Emergency services and state police will have cards from the turnpike commission to access the ramps.

Turnpike officials presented information to the residents about the issues with the bridge and scope of the project. The detour will allow the project to be completed quicker than if it was staged. The project is expected to be completed by Oct. 31.

A portion of the southwest wing wall of the existing 105-foot bridge has pulled away about 9 inches and has rotated outward, turnpike officials said.

A wing wall is a small wall next to a larger object that can act as a retaining wall. In this case, it keeps dirt in place under the roadway that approaches the bridge.

The current bridge was built in 1956. It consists of a single-span, deck-plate girder, and provides a clearance above the turnpike of 14 feet and 11 inches and shoulder width of 10 feet on I-476.

The updated bridge design calls for a higher clearance and wider shoulder widths. The new bridge will have a clearance of 16 feet and 2.5 inches with a shoulder width of 14 feet. It will be a concrete box beam design and will be 186 feet long, about 80 feet longer than the original. The longer bridge design will set the wing walls further back from the I-476 roadway.

“I really appreciate the turnpike coming out and explaining what the process is going to be,” Heffley said. “Anything that we can do to facilitate the needs of the residents here in Carbon County with the contractor, the turnpike and PennDOT, we’re trying to do that to alleviate as much burden as possible. Is it going to be an inconvenience? Of course, this bridge is one access point.”

Heffley said they want to get the bridge replaced in order to protect the safety of people on top of it and below it.

“That’s the number one thing that drives projects like this is public safety,” he said.

Heffley said the contractor will be placing a dumpster so people can discard trash and not have to go on the long detour to reach the township transfer station.

Cellphone service is spotty in the area, so Heffley said the turnpike commission is “working on solutions to fill the gaps” in case someone breaks down or needs help.

He added that state police will be patrolling the area on a regular basis.

In addition to the bridge replacement by the Turnpike Commission, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation plans to resurface a portion of Hatchery Road, but the two projects should not coincide, Heffley said.