Williamson Road set to open, Shinham Road work pushed back

The bridge over Muddy Run on Williamson Road in Antrim Township is now supposed to open Friday, Sept. 1, but residents of that area do not have to worry about their detour route being closed until mid-September.

There have been concerns throughout the summer about the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation bridge replacement on Williamson Road, originally scheduled to end Aug. 7, and a Franklin County culvert replacement on Shinham Road — the detour route — initially set to begin in mid-August.

The Williamson Road bridge completion date has been pushed back a number of times, most recently from Wednesday, Aug. 30, to Friday, Sept. 1, due to the late arrival of railing, according to Greg Penny, PennDOT spokesman.

"This is what is called a design/build project in which the contractor is responsible for both designing and building the new bridge. The contractor encountered some design issues during construction that required additional time to address and resolve, and that delayed their schedule for completing the project," according to Penny.

Normally, about 2,900 vehicles travel that road daily, according to PennDOT.

PennDOT awarded the $994,930 design-build contract to Cottle’s Asphalt Maintenance Inc. of Everett, Bedford County. Work included removing the existing 60-year-old structurally deficient three-span bridge superstructure and replacing it with a continuous steel I-beam structure, repairs to the concrete substructure, approach pavement reconstruction and new guardrail, signs and pavement markings.

Shinham Road 

Franklin County commissioners Tuesday agreed to extend the contract of the Shinham Road project by 52 days.

It involves replacing a box culvert under Shinham Road and was originally contracted through August, but has been extended until Oct. 16.

Commissioners approved a change order to David H. Martin to extend the contract and increase it by $1,568.

John Hart, county administrator, said the extension was due to the project on Williamson Road that already has traffic in that area detoured. The Shinham Road work is expected to begin Sept. 15 and be completed by Oct. 16.

During that time, the road will be closed and traffic a detour will be set up.