BRIGHTON TWP. — A footbridge over Bradys Run will be replaced by Beaver County next month in a $129,000 project.
Replacing the bridge had been in the works for more than a year, and on Wednesday county Public Works Director Dan Colville asked the board of commissioners to expand the project because the recent wet weather has exposed an erosion problem on the banks of the waterway that needs to be repaired.
“With the high waters and rains, the water is circulating and scouring up the creekline,” Colville told the commissioners Wednesday. “It just seems to be another problem.”
The county will handle the issue as an emergency on the advice of solicitor Garen Fedeles, so the project won’t have to be rebid to add an estimated $60,000 in work to stabilize the bank. As the wet weather has exacerbated the problem, it can be classified as an emergency, Fedeles said.
“It sounds like we’ve got a safety issue,” Fedeles said.
Jet Excavating, the New Middletown, Ohio-based company that’s building and installing the bridge, can do the additional work, Colville said, and it plans to use large sandstones already at the Brighton Township park in the job.
“I really like the concept of using that sandstone,” Commissioner Sandie Egley said. “I would be inclined to make it (the bank) right.”
Commissioner Dan Camp was also supportive of adding the work because, without doing so, the problem could create future problems after the new bridge is installed.
Commissioner Tony Amadio is vacationing.
The bank work will begin as soon, Colville said.