Bridge revamp rejected

A construction project bid to re-vamp the Oakland bridge at the Boulevard of the Allies was… A construction project bid to re-vamp the Oakland bridge at the Boulevard of the Allies was rejected last week.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s Boulevard of the Allies bridge replacement project was deemed too expensive and each of the six construction bids exceeded the available funding by more than 50 percent.

But this is not the end of the road for the project.

“What has transpired now is that we will continue with conversations,” said Mavis Rainey, executive director of Oakland Transportation Management Association. “There were some questions in the budget so PennDOT will re-bid in February 2007.”

The original project plan has been in the works for more than five years, according to Dan Cessna, PennDOT District 11 executive. It includes the demolishing of the Boulevard of the Allies mainline and south ramp bridges and the construction of a new bridge.

“Anyone who drives through the area can look at the bridge and not argue that it needs to be replaced,” he said.

Much of the planned construction will be focused on the Forbes Avenue entrance to Oakland. The plan is to create a new exit onto the road, and an entire lane will be devoted to merging traffic instead of the stop sign that is there now.

Another addition will be a separate northbound ramp from Fifth Avenue onto the Boulevard of the Allies, which will make the elimination of the contra-flow traffic lane on Forbes Avenue possible.

According to Rainey, the Oakland community has been involved with the development of the project all along. OTMA has worked to help the community give insight to PennDOT about what they hope will be accomplished by the changes.

“The whole point of the effort of the community design team was to create an entrance point,” Rainey said. “People should know you’re coming into a special area.”

Cessna is confident that this project will move forward despite the bid rejection, though.

“We understand the importance of this project to the local and regional community,” he said. “It is unfortunate that we do not have the funding at this time, but we will move this project forward and construction will be underway next year as planned.”

Re-assessment of the project will begin with creating a new schedule of construction that will allow for more flexibility for the contractors, Cessna said. There will also be minor modifications in the bridge’s structure.

Those features that were important to the community will be retained, though. Specific arch beam structures and eagle designs on the face of the bridge among other things will remain a part of the project as it evolves.

“From a community perspective, we don’t think we’ve lost any contextual elements that we wanted,” Rainey said. “There has been give and take on both sides but in the end everyone’s pleased.”

Construction of the project is expected to begin in April 2007 if the bid in February goes as planned, Cessna said. Work on the bridge will continue through 2008 and in the spring of 2009, final touches — such as planting of shrubbery and landscaping — will be made.

“It’s going to be very attractive,” he said. “It will make the people of Oakland proud.”