Masontown bridge completed
MASONTOWN – The new four-lane bridge carrying Route 21 over the Monongahela River near Masontown is finished.
“The bridge is complete and open,” state Department of Transportation spokeswoman Valerie Petersen said Tuesday.
The only activity that might continue will involve site cleanup and work to address any punch list items before the project is officially closed, she said.
“There might be some minor traffic controls, but nothing that would hinder anyone,” she said.
During construction, traffic has been maintained on the highway, although lane closings were necessary. The only detour was employed Sept. 28, 2013, the day explosives were used to drop the steel superstructure of the old bridge into the river.
No ceremony is planned to mark the opening of the bridge.
Brayman Construction Corp. of Saxonburg was the contractor on the $49.6 million project, which involved replacing the two-lane steel truss bridge with a four-lane plate girder bridge.
The former bridge was constructed in the early 1920s and was dedicated as the “Inter-county Bridge” in 1925. The old bridge was considered “substandard” at 24 feet wide with no shoulder.
Brayman began construction of the new bridge in 2012. It first constructed a two-lane bridge adjacent to the old bridge.
Once that was completed, traffic was shifted to the new bridge, the old bridge was demolished and the final two lanes were built.
The project was expected to be completed late last year but was delayed partially because of the unavailability of a special barge-mounted crane, PennDOT said earlier. In October, the department said the project would be completed Dec. 1.