New Stanton bridge being moved to new home in Fayette
Traffic was temporarily halted as bystanders lined both sides of Interstate 70 on Monday evening in New Stanton to watch and take photos as crews prepared to use a crane to hoist the town's spare pedestrian bridge off abutments suspending it over the interstate.
South Union Township Supervisor Robert Schiffbauer was on hand to oversee the dismantling of the 130-foot-long bridge into two sections so it could be loaded onto a pair of tractor-trailers and shipped to its new home in Fayette County.
According to Schiffbauer, a 55-foot section of the bridge was destined for the South Union Township Community Park at Hutchinson, where it will be placed across a stream and be incorporated in the township's effort to develop a 2.2-mile section of the proposed Sheepskin Trail hiking and biking path between Dunbar and the West Virginia line.
He said the other, longer section will be placed in storage until a use can be found for it.
The bridge no longer is needed in New Stanton since PennDOT completed reconstruction of the nearby Center Avenue bridge over the interstate, including a sidewalk for pedestrians.
The Joseph B. Fay Co., which constructed the Center Avenue bridge, donated the pedestrian span to the township.
Jeff Himler is a Tribune-Review staff writer.
