Irwin officials took a step this week to create a detour around the Colony Drive bridge by agreeing to advertise for bids to build a two-lane road that would connect Caruthers Lane with Colony Drive.
The contract bids will be opened in June and a contract could be awarded to start building the temporary road sometime in July, said Steve Schmitt, engineer with Gibson-Thomas Engineering Co. of Latrobe. Schmitt had previously told borough officials that the actual work to build the road may only take less than a week.
The temporary road project was estimated to cost between $50,000 and $75,000. The work would involve creating a temporary road of about 1,000 feet, plus installing directional signs and painting lines for the two lanes, Schmitt said.
Motorists have been driving to the apartments at Norwin Townhomes and to the Core Event Center over a concrete and asphalt path through a vacant lot from Caruthers Lane to Colony Drive. The Colony Drive bridge over an unnamed tributary of Tinker’s Run has been closed since a hole was discovered in the roadway Jan. 15.
The route between Caruthers Lane and Colony Drive would travel through three properties: Norwin Townhomes L.P., owner of a 226-unit apartment complex; Calvary Baptist Church on Caruthers Lane; and Albensi Management Consultants Inc., which owns the Core Event Center property. The borough has easements from the majority of the property owners, solicitor Zachary Kansler told council.
Once the borough replaces the closed Colony Drive bridge, borough officials said that the road would revert to the private property owners. Colony Drive ends in a cul-de-sac at the 226-unit Norwin Townhomes.
Irwin has applied for a $936,000 federal grant through the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development program for a new bridge. Borough officials were told in March that the bridge deck and support beams will have to be replaced, but the wing walls underneath each end of the bridge are intact.