Apr 2, 2024 By Mark Hofmann 3 min read

The 185-year-old Dunlap Creek Bridge in Brownsville will be disassembled and transported out of state for steel repairs, an $8.9 million undertaking set to begin in the coming months.

“We will restore it to the condition and look it had in 1839,” said Bill Beaumariage, assistant district executive for construction for the state Department of Transportation District 12. “We are privileged to preserve this great work that our ancestors did.”

The Cast Iron Bridge, as many refer to it, carries Market Street over Dunlap Creek. It is on the National Register of Historic Places and is a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. When it was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1839, it was the first cast iron metal arch bridge in the country.

The project requires it be disassembled and shipped away to complete structural rehabilitation and repairs, PennDOT officials said Monday during a gathering to discuss upcoming projects in the area.

Once those repairs are made, the parts will be returned and the bridge will be reassembled.

While the bridge undergoes restoration, an adjacent pedestrian bridge will be constructed, officials said. Beaumariage said the pedestrian bridge will give people a chance to view the underside of the Dunlap Creek Bridge.

Gary Ferrari, a project manager for PennDOT District 12 said work on the bridge will begin as soon as the work is completed on the deck replacement of the Brownsville Avenue Bridge. Brownsville Avenue will serve as a detour route for emergency vehicles when Market Street is closed for the Dunlap Creek Bridge project.

Ferrari said the anticipated completion date for the Dunlap Creek Bridge project is December 2025, but noted it’s difficult to offer a firm date because there are many unknowns in reconstructing a bridge built nearly two centuries ago.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work on a bridge like this,” Ferrari said. “There’s very delicate work upfront, and it takes time.”

A number of other area projects were also discussed on Monday, among them the $6 million to $8 million Route 88 Fredericktown Preservation project in Washington County.

The project consists of 5.6 miles of pavement preservation/resurfacing, drainage work and guide rail improvements on Route 88.

It will take place from the Greene County line to Ridge Road in Centerville and East Bethlehem Township. That project could start around June with an estimated completion date in November.

A similar project will be the resurfacing and concrete rehabilitation of Interstate 79 from the north junction of Interstates 70 and 79 to the Race Track Road exit in Chartiers and South Strabane townships.

The cost will be between $3 and $5 million, and the project is anticipated to begin sometime in June and completed in November.

In Greene County, work will continue on the Waynesburg Betterment project that started last year.

Beaumariage said the project includes milling and resurfacing Routes 19 and 21 through Waynesburg.

The project also includes curve flattening, base repair, signal upgrades and replacements, sidewalk replacements, upgrading ramps so they are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, drainage improvements and upgrading signage, delineation and pavement markings.

The $11.8 million project is expected to be completed in October.

Rachel Duda, the district executive with PennDOT District 12, said Fayette, Washington, Greene and Westmoreland counties will have 103 projects in construction this year, representing an investment of $528 million.