Bridge Repair Creates Long Detour
The Pike County Dispatch
By Wayne Witkowski
DINGMANS FERRY -- As if Delaware Township residents and other motorists traversing the township did not have enough inconvenience with the lengthy closure of Wilson Hill Road by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation for repairs through late last year, they now have a new hurdle.
The bridge on Milford Road/State Route 2001 spanning a low area of the roadway located between Myck and Silver Lake roads has been closed recently for repairs. Instead, an orange mesh fencing blocks Milford Road with a road closure sign, forcing drivers to take a detour.
A greater concern for the township is truck traffic, particularly heavy trucks. Instead of following the detour marked by signs that sends trucks traveling north on Milford Road all the way back through Lehman Township and up to Route 402 for a long, looping rout. Trucks traveling southward from Milford have to take Silver Spring Road to Route 402, or Route 739 to Interstate 84. They cannot use Route 209 because the National Park Service bans rucks on that road through the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.
Truckers taking a shorter detour of their own are putting punishing wear and tear on township roads.
"They're not taking PennDOT's 30-mile route but they're taking a 10-mile detour on our roads," said township Roadmaster Rick Bailo during a workshop that preceded the township's Board of Supervisors' regular meeting.
Township Administrator Krista Predmore said PennDOT estimated the bridge project "is expected to last six months" until the start of the holiday season sometime in November.
Bailo talked about posting 10-ton weight limit signs to be enforced around the township. Supervisors talked about issuing a bond to Dingmans Ferry Stone to allow their trucks to detour on local roads.
"Can we get the state to help us by fixing the roads," asked resident Steve Tarquini.
"That's the idea behind this," said Bailo.
"This is a work in progress," concluded board Chairman John Henderson.
Added to that inconvenience, drivers heading through neighboring Monroe County to Interstate 80 cannot take Hollow Road as a bypass to busy Route 209 because PennDOT has likewise closed that road at the midpoint for a bridge reconstruction. That bypass from Hollow Road onto River Road to Interstate 80 is regarded as a less time-consuming drive.
Also at the meeting, bids were scheduled to be opened for refurbishing Mary Stuart Road. Only one was received from Kobalt Construction for $388,132. The bid was tabled to the next supervisors meeting on June 28, pending further examination of it.
Supervisors approved a request by Dingman Delaware Little League to use township fields on July 25 for the 8-10-year-old regional championships.
They also approved the Delaware Township Volunteer Fire Police providing traffic control at the Car Show scheduled from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on July 1 at the township municipal parking area on Wilson Hill Road. Proceeds from the show will go to the Wounded Warrior Project.
Also approved was Triversity's request to use Akenac Park on Sept. 10, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., for its annual picnic and for the Dingmans Ferry-Delaware Township
Historical Society to use the municipal hall from noon to 4 p.m. on Sept. 17.
During the workshop, Predmore talked about replacing three automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and installing four other new ones at key locations around the township that would cost about $6,000. It will be on the next agenda for an approval vote.
Dingmans Ferry Theatre Director Dennis Lee talked about the Internet service that began a week earlier for the theatre cabin in Akenac Park that he said "will help what we're doing."
A treaty with the Native American Lenape tribe proposed to the township also will be on the agenda for the next meeting. A one-page copy of the treaty was received by the township when supervisors attended a meeting with the Native American tribe. The treaty establishes the Lenape's legacy as an indigenous tribe in the area. "There are eight to 10 elements we agree with," said Henderson favorable. The treaty includes objection to efforts to establish the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation area as a national park.