Monday's scheduled implosion of the Charleroi-Monessen Bridge will signal just the start of construction in earnest.
The implosion will involve the steel structure of the 104-year-old bridge. The concrete approach spans to the bridge are being salvaged.
The construction project will extend into late 2012 and will not be stopped during the winter months.
This year, construction crews will work on the substructure of the bridge, focusing on the footers and piers. In addition, crews might begin work around the approach spans later this year.
Next year, steel girders will be erected. In addition, work on the approach spans and lighting will be completed.
The bridge is tentatively scheduled to reopen to traffic by late 2012. In the spring of 2013, however, some minor work will be completed.
Under the state's initial plan, the bridge project might have been winding down now instead of just getting started.
State officials last year said the bridge project was delayed nine months to a year while PennDOT worked out an agreement with a group of historic preservationists.
One part of that agreement involved naming the new bridge for one of Charleroi's favorite sons, John K. Tener.
Tener, who was born in Ireland, moved to the United States at age 10.
A Major League Baseball pitcher, Tener was elected governor in 1911. He is the lone foreign-born person to hold that office.
He was elected National Baseball League president in 1913 and served in that Major League Baseball post for two years while still governor.
He also served briefly in the U.S. House of Representatives.
But his connection to the Charleroi-Monessen Bridge comes from his stint as president of the Mercantile Bridge Co., which built the bridge in 1906-07.
It was a privately owned, tolled bridge until the state took it over in 1957.
The new bridge will include five "bulb-outs" — extensions of the sidewalk — with interpretive panels featuring the history of the span and information about Tener.
In addition to the bridge, the East Halls area of the University Park campus of The Pennsylvania State University and the Charleroi library are named for Tener.
Nikki Sheppick, of the Charleroi Area Historical Society, said she will watch the implosion that her organization fought to prevent from happening. Sheppick said it's "a shame" that the state did not opt to save the century-old bridge.
"I'll watch it — it's history," Sheppick said. "We record history."
