East Union residents, supervisors hear bridge plans, voice concerns

SHEPPTON – Residents and township supervisors heard plans Tuesday evening for three bridge replacement projects planned on Route 924 and voiced concerns.

PennDOT is currently designing projects to replace three aging bridges crossing small runs that feed into the Catawissa Creek along Route 924 between Brandonville and Sheppton.

Manjeet Ahluwalia, Project Manager/Senior Bridge Engineer for Arora and Associates, a consultant for PennDOT, conducted the presentation before more than a dozen residents and the East Union Township Supervisors.

The project would involve replacing three bridges between Phinneyville Road and the former Innsbrook.

Ahluwalia said the bridges would be replaced one-at-a-time to preserve access to properties in-between.

“We can’t just close the entire stretch and do all three bridges,” he said. “It has to be one bridge at a time.”

He said construction would take about six to eight weeks per bridge.

Ahluwalia expects the project to be bid out in May of 2027 with construction beginning later that year on the bridge nearest to Phinneyville Road.

PennDOT is planning a full detour of traffic for each replacement project, which raised concerns from residents and township supervisors alike.

Ahluwalia said they determined the best option for traffic was “a complete detour.”

There are two detours. For cars heading northbound, the detour follows Route 339 to Red Ridge Road, Red Ridge Road into Nuremberg, then Mahanoy Street south to Nuremberg Mountain Road into Oneida onto First Street to Chapel Road, where it meets Route 924 again and vice-versa for southbound cars.

That would be 13 miles, 30 minutes, he said.

Trucks over 45′ headed northbound, Ahluwalia said, would use Route 924 through Shenandoah and Frackville to Interstate 81, 81 to the Humboldt exit, and rejoin Route 924 there. This would be 33 miles, he said.

Ahluwalia said trucks under 45′ could take the car detour. That raised immediate concerns from Bob Gabardi, president of the Sheppton-Oneida Fire Co., regarding a hairpin turn between Nuremberg proper and the Nuremberg cemetery where trucks regularly get stuck.

He said he’d want the full detour to use Interstate 81.

Ahluwalia and the township both conceded that drivers are going to find and use the shortest route, which would include either Phinneyville Road or Pole Road to Brandon Street to ascend the Sheppton Mountain there.

Neither route, or Girard Manor Road between Pole Road and Brandon Street, is in good enough shape to take a chunk of the 3,000 vehicles that drive Route 924 on an average day, Township Supervisors Chairman Kyle Mummey said.

“We have serious concerns about the safety of travel on [Phinneyville Road,]” Mummey said. “You’re going to squeeze most of them through that little village of Phinneyville and that small road. Obviously safety is paramount when you have truck traffic, regular traffic, and school bus traffic all trying to get through at the same time.”

Mummey sought a discussion with PennDOT about potential improvements to the road.

“I think PennDOT should be fair and say ‘Okay, we’ll refurbish,'” Danny Danchision, roadmaster, said. “It’s PennDOT, they have the manpower, they have the equipment, and they have the materials.”

“Everyone is going to use Phinneyville Road, period,” Danchision added.

One resident asked why a detour would be necessary at all when, in other bridge projects, one lane had been maintained. For example, though much larger, the Gold Star Bridge in Shenandoah was replaced one-half at a time. PennDOT said that the bridge structures here cannot be split in half and still take the weight.

To create a temporary crossing for traffic would balloon the time, cost, and impacts on neighbors, PennDOT said.

PennDOT is seeking comments through Sept. 20. You can view the plans and submit your comments here.

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Kaylee Lindenmuth

Kaylee Lindenmuth is a Shenandoah native with a passion for journalism and the community she calls home. She is a 12-time Keystone Media Award winner, a PAB Excellence in Broadcasting award winner, and has been nominated for a Mid-Atlantic Emmy award.

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