Vital Signs: Revised weight restriction posted for middle bridge on North Eighth Street
Weight limit signs are seen on the east end of Juniata’s North Eighth Street Bridge. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski
The North Eighth Street Bridge in Juniata spans the Norfolk Southern mainline. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski
Revised weight limits have been posted for the North Eighth Street Bridge in Juniata, which actually comprises three bridges that span the Norfolk Southern mainline. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski
The bridge weight limit signs are not visible to drivers stopped behind the stop line on North Fourth Avenue and North Eighth Street. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski
A revised weight limit sign is seen on the west end of Juniata's North Eighth Street Bridge. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski
Weight limit signs are seen on the east end of Juniata’s North Eighth Street Bridge. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski
The North Eighth Street Bridge in Juniata spans the Norfolk Southern mainline. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski
Revised weight limits have been posted for the North Eighth Street Bridge in Juniata, which actually comprises three bridges that span the Norfolk Southern mainline. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski
The bridge weight limit signs are not visible to drivers stopped behind the stop line on North Fourth Avenue and North Eighth Street. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski
A revised weight limit sign is seen on the west end of Juniata's North Eighth Street Bridge. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski
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Blair County has recently posted weight restrictions for the middle bridge of the three successive county-owned bridges on North Eighth Street between North Fourth Avenue in Juniata and Old Sixth Avenue Road in Logan Township.
Following the latest annual inspection, the 20-ton limit -- 25 for tractor-trailers -- for the bridge over Norfolk Southern's Rose Yard is posted on a sign at each end of the three-bridge series, alongside a second sign listing limits imposed last fall of 29 tons, 33 for tractor-trailers, for the bridge over the NS mainline, the one that is closest to Juniata.
While the pair of signs on the Sixth Avenue side is visible for truck drivers before they turn onto North Eighth Street, and the signs on the Juniata side are visible for southbound drivers on busy North Fourth Avenue, the signs are not easily visible for northbound drivers on North Fourth Avenue before they commit to turning onto North Eighth Street, due to their location at the corner and the presence of a building just to the right of a driver stopped at the stoplight.
That does not mean that drivers of overweight trucks that make the turn have no alternative except backing up or driving over the bridge: they can bail out to either the left or right in an alley about 100 feet past the turn, or they can go left onto North Third Avenue, another 100 feet ahead; or to the right into the Ward parking lot across from North Third Avenue.
Furthermore, for trucks that are less than 29 tons, and thus OK to go over the first bridge, but more than 20 tons, and prohibited from going over the second bridge, there is an exit down to Rose Yard, just before the second bridge, which would presumably allow for a turnaround.
PennDOT has identified the three-bridge series as a potential funding issue due to deterioration on the mainline bridge of the beam ends that rest on the piers to support the infrastructure.
If that bridge needs to be replaced, it may need to be raised to clear the tracks by 23 feet -- four feet higher than the current bridge, to comply with current Norfolk Southern clearance requirements, PennDOT District Executive Vince Greenland said last year.
Because of such a large height adjustment and the proximity of the other two bridges, replacing the mainline bridge might also mean replacing the other two, according to Greenland.
That could mean that a project that might have cost $3 million or $4 million could balloon into the tens of millions, Greenland said then.
Blair County has hired a consultant to study the issue and the county is in discussions with NS and the Public Utility Commission "to define the overall scope of the project moving forward," PennDOT spokesman Jay Knarr wrote in an email.
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.