Rupert Road Bridge to Close for Replacement July 23

Photo by Evan Brandt

The Rupert Road bridge in Lower Pottsgrove, built in 1921, is seriously deteriorating and will be removed and replaced starting on July 23.

The Rupert Road bridge along the eastern border of Lower Pottsgrove Township, will be closed for 120 days starting July 23, according to a pending announcement from township officials.

Built in 1921, the crumbling concrete structure has been on the township's list for replacement for years and will finally be removed.

The township had hoped to get started on the project as soon as school let out "but there were some delays due to the county having trouble getting easement rights on some of the property," said Chad Camburn, township engineer.

"As a result, some of the detour is going to bleed into the school year," he said, a situation officials had hoped to avoid.

Camburn said hopefully the bridge will be finished by October, "but we told the school district not until Thanksgiving just in case we have any problems," he said.

For cars, the detour will have drivers using Pleasantview Road to Pruss Hill Road to get around the bridge.

But trucks and "anything over five tons will have to use Fruitville Road over in Limerick because of all the weight-restricted bridges we have around there," Camburn said.

The final cost will be between $800,000 and $900,000 said Township Engineer Ed Wagner, and the township's share of that cost will be $325,000.

Camburn said some of the township's share was donated by the developer of the Raven's Claw housing project, most of which is in Limerick, but a small portion of which is in Lower Pottsgrove.

Site of the planned Spring Valley Farms clubhouse.

In other news from the commissioners meeting last night, Camburn said after a long absence, the developers from the Sanatoga Green project were back before the planning commission on June 7 and are moving forward with plans, starting with the completion of the sewer plans, called a module, which must be publicly available for review for at least 30 days.

The other major housing project in town, Spring Valley Farms off Bliem Road, will seek a special exception for the construction of a club house for residents of the Spring Valley Farms project, targeted at residents over age 50.

That project is expected to be built in at least three phases.

Commissioners also about the expiration of the "circuit rider" program, which most of us know as the regional recreation coordinator, a post now held by Michael Lane. The program officially expires in August of 2019 and in anticipation of that, township officials throughout the eight-municipality planning area can expect to begin seeing presentations about re-authorizing.

Due to the $162,000 no longer being provided by the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the price is expected to rise from about $5,000 a year now to around $8,000 per year for the next term, which ends in 2024.

The Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation is putting up 50 percent of the money to keep the program going, and the Schuylkill River Greenway has agreed to continue providing office space, and personnel resources for Lane.

So far, the program has obtained $1.6 million of the $1.9 million in grants it has sought for the six towns that participate, and for Lower Pottsgrove that includes a $362,000 grant for improvements to Gerald Richards Park, said Lane.

That sounds like a pretty good return on investment to me.

Here are the Tweets from the meeting

Rupert Road Bridge's Time Has Come