Last night, Glenn Solt, project manager for Lehigh County, came to the county committee meeting prepared with a twelve page report, and the engineer who wrote it. They testified that the condition of the Reading Road Bridge has deteriorated, the cost of repairing it has increased, but that the cost of replacing it has gone down. Solt's determined to rid Union Terrace of that old stone arch bridge. Never mind that it was completely rehabilitated in 1980, 156 years after it was built in 1824. Never mind that Hamilton Street Bridge is a quarter block north, and a new Union Street Bridge is being built a half block south.
Michael Molovinsky, an Allentown blogger who has previously written about the bridge, accused the county of exaggerating the condition of the bridge and the cost for rehabilitating it rather than replacing it. Molovinsky said the bridge's historic value is irreplaceable, "Let me be frank: Mr. Solt has no feel for history whatsoever," Molovinsky said. "... This bridge cannot be replaced. It's that simple." Colin McEvoy/The Express Times/June28,2012This was the first bridge built west of Allentown, crossing Cedar Creek, on the route west to Reading, and one of the last remaining stone arch bridges. Although I would like to see a stake driven through the project, technical legalese demands that I periodically appear and defend our history and culture. The bridge replacement funds were approved years ago, and the matter at hand is a small contract for engineering studies.
reprinted from 2012
ADDENDUM: I'm happy to report that I would continue campaigning for the bridge, and eventually convinced the County Commissioners to save the structure.
Thanks Mike! Too much of our history has already been removed by self serving or clueless politicians and the electorate that doesn't seem to care.
ReplyDeleteWhile eating out in the valley the other night we struck up a conversation with fellow diners on favorite local dining locations. Though I said nothing about the downtown they brought it up as a no go zone. Empty, expensive, so-so food, and it lacked any ambiance anyone over thirty appreciates. All the history is gone and the glass and metal that replaced it doesn't ring everyone's bell.
What's done is done but let this be a lesson to us. Surrounding communities are prospering by preserving their structural heritage. In doing so they preserving their uniqueness and character. People tend to like that.
The Reading Road bridge in Allentown and the stone bridge over the Monocacy in Bethlehem are from the same period and in the same architectural style. It too has traffic-bearing bridges a block to the south and a block to the north. Today, it is part of a park system with occasional vehicular use, and is otherwise closed with sturdy bollards in the middle of the street. The Bethlehem bridge led to Allentown Road, now Prospect Avenue, and helps tell the same story of the interconnectedness of the cities south of the mountain.
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