Work on Keim Street Bridge Pushed Back to 2020

Seven years and counting for the closure of the Keim Street bridge.

Do I need to say the words?

The Montgomery County Commissioners made their annual pilgrimage to Pottstown Tuesday night and had lots of good things to say about the county and Pottstown's place in it.

Sure, I could tell you about the growing population, the growing jobs, the low unemployment rate or the high financial rating from Moody's.

But I know what you want to read about. Three words: "Keim Street Bridge."

Photo by Evan Brandt

Montgomery County Commissioners, from left, Ken Lawrence,

Val Arkoosh and Joe Gale address a crowd of about 45 at a

town hall meeting Tuesday night in Pottstown.

Last year when the commissioners visited, we asked and they said construction would not begin until 2019.

This year, the start date they offered is 2020.

The bridge was closed in October of 2010 after being declared structurally unsound and since then, it seems to be the unenviable task of whomever is the vice chairman of the commissioners to deliver this update.

That means that this year, the task fell to Kenneth Lawrence, the board's newest member.

Preliminary design work is going on right now, said Lawrence. Final design work will apparently take until the end of 2019 and shovels won't hit the first until 2020.

Here is some video of what he said:

He said the vehicle registration fee enacted by Montgomery County last year raises money that can only be used for roads and bridges in the county -- "including the Keim Street Bridge" -- and that it helps speed things along.

But somehow, the county's version of things being speeded along results in the the start date for construction being pushed back by another year.

Was it ever thus.

Anyhoo, here are the Tweets from the rest of the meeting.