Five years ago, the Levans Iron Bridge over the Little Swatara Creek was closed to traffic after inspectors concluded the bridge’s superstructure — the main structure — was “in imminent failure condition.”
Levans is one of 25 state and locally maintained bridges that have been rated “poor,” one of three classifications developed by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to provide a general assessment of the condition of the structural components of a bridge or culvert 20 feet or longer.
A rating of 7 to 9 indicates the bridge is in good condition; 5 or 6 is fair; and 0 to 4 is poor. Descriptive details are mostly provided for poor ratings. A rating of 3, for instance, means “deterioration has seriously affected the primary structural components.”
While the numerical scale provides a snapshot of a bridge’s overall health, FHWA cautions that bridge inspectors examine factors from a bridge’s age to the materials used in building the bridge as well as the volume of daily traffic and the site and extent of deterioration of any structural components. Inspectors also compare findings from previous years’ inspections to document changes.
“A bridge classified in poor condition doesn’t mean that it’s unsafe — it means that the bridge may require maintenance and repair to remain in service,” David Thompson, PennDOT District 08 spokesperson, said in an email. “FHWA condition ratings are only used to generally categorize bridge conditions and to provide a global view for planning transportation improvements.”
State funding for bridge maintenance and repair has increased in recent years, allowing Pennsylvania to move up from having the most bridges with a rating of 4 or less in 2013 to now being sixth in the nation, according to a recent report from TRIP, a national transportation research nonprofit. That’s a significant improvement given that Pennsylvania has the third-largest number of bridges in the U.S.
But increasing traffic volumes and wear-and-tear from heavy vehicles continue to take their toll on bridges that were built decades ago — and in the case of Levans, more than a century ago.
“Bridges are designed and constructed to get the longest possible service life,” said Thompson in an email. “However, any construction material that is exposed to elements such as rain and snow, significant temperature changes and load stresses causes by traffic, including trucks, wears out.”
Aging bridges
PennDOT owns and maintains 70 percent of Lebanon County’s bridges, with the remaining 30 percent divided among the county, townships, boroughs and Lebanon city.
That the county owns 14 bridges is unusual as it doesn’t own any roads. It is thought that sometime in the 1930s, the state offered money to counties if they would take responsibility for some bridges — and Lebanon County took the offer, county administrator Jamie Wolgemuth wrote in an email.
Of the 25 bridges rated poor, 11 are maintained by PennDOT, seven by the county and the remainder by municipalities and Lebanon city. The most recent addition to the “poor” list is the bridge over Bachman Run at Louser Road in South Annville Township, according to PennDOT’s April 2024 reports.
The average age of PennDOT owned and maintained bridges in 50 years, said Auditor General Timothy DeFoor at a recent press conference, where he released audit findings of PennDOT’s bridge inspection program.
That puts Pennsylvania in the top 10 in the nation for oldest bridges, according to PennDOT.
Lebanon County’s 96 locally owned bridges are slightly older — an average age of 53 years, with 46 percent of the county’s locally owned bridges built before 1974, according to PennDOT data.
But a bridge’s age does not necessarily reflect its overall structural health. Bridge design, construction materials and most importantly, traffic volume can outweigh age when assessing bridge condition.
Consider, as an example, the county-owned masonry bridge over the Tulpehocken Creek at Mill Avenue in Myerstown. Built in or around 1900, the bridge’s condition is rated fair (in the absence of records, PennDOT uses 1900 as a default date for construction).
The average daily number of vehicles using the bridge is 200.
Compare this to the Market Street bridge in Jonestown, rated poor. Built in 1929, that bridge has a daily traffic count of 1,500 vehicles.
“We’ve had some conversations at the county level recently about this bridge being one of our next priorities given its age and increased usage especially with the SR 72 bridge replacement project,” said Jon Fitzkee, assistant director and senior transportation planner with the county planning department.
‘Poor’ bridges in Lebanon County
The overall condition of these 14 locally owned and maintained bridges is “poor,” according to the Federal Highway Administration’s numerical rating scale for assessing a structure’s general condition. A rating of “poor” indicates the bridge requires maintenance and repair to remain in service and not that the bridge is unsafe. Work is currently underway on the bridge over the Hammer Creek at Michters Road with fall completion.
| Roadway | Waterway | Municipality | Owner | Year built | Length (feet) | Average daily traffic | Post status | Structure type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Golf Road | Little Swatara Creek | Bethel | County | 1933 | 239 | 300 | Closed | Steel, Girder riv/thru |
| Old SR 1022 | Monroe Creek | Bethel | Township | 1940 | 40 | 542 | Posted | Steel, I beams |
| Michters Road | Hammer Creek | Heidelberg | County | 1925 | 38 | 100 | Posted | Concrete, T beams |
| Reilly Road | Tulpehocken Creek | Jackson | County | 1900 | 39 | 200 | Posted | Masonry, Arch deck – closed |
| Jonestown Road | Swatara Creek | Jonestown | County | 1929 | 252 | 1500 | Open | Concrete(in place), Arch deck – closed |
| North Lincoln Ave | Quittapahilla Creek | Lebanon | City | 1929 | 22 | 2500 | Posted | Concrete(in place), Slab (solid) |
| North Third St | Quittapahilla Creek | Lebanon | City | 1920 | 22 | 150 | Posted | Concrete(in place), Slab (solid) |
| T-363 | Stream tributary to Mill Creek | Mill Creek | Township | 1930 | 23 | 50 | Closed | Steel, I beams |
| Syner Road | Quittapahilla Creek | North Annville | County | 1900 | 63 | 375 | Posted | Masonry, Arch deck – closed |
| Yordys Bridge | Swatara Creek | North Annville | County | 1924 | 214 | 200 | Closed | Concrete, (in place) |
| Reist Road | Beck Creek | North Cornwall | Township | 1974 | 30 | 400 | Posted | P/S, Box beam |
| Halfway Drive | Tulpehocken Creek | North Lebanon | Township | 1930 | 26 | 150 | Open | Concrete (in place), T beams |
| Louser Road | Bachman Run | South Annville | Township | 1973 | 39 | 550 | Posted | P/S, Box beam – adj |
| Levans Iron Bridge | Little Swatara Creek | Swatara | County | 1904 | 157 | 50 | Closed | Steel, Truss – thru |
Posted and closed
Bridges 20 feet or longer are inspected at a minimum every 24 months, although bridges with weight restrictions or deterioration are inspected annually and sometimes even more frequently.
The county initially picks up the tab for all bridge inspections, although PennDOT reimburses 80 percent of the cost, Fitzkee said. The remaining 20 percent is paid for with the county’s Liquid Fuels allocation from PennDOT and is based on population and miles of public roads.
“The county pays for inspections to ensure the bridges remain safe and functional,” said Fitzkee. He noted the cost of bridge inspections in 2022-26 is more than $1.1 million.
Of the 25 bridges rated poor, nine are posted with weight restrictions, maximum weight limits or limits on vehicle size. Posting or restricting vehicle weight or size is basically preventative — to slow a bridge’s deterioration from wear-and-tear from heavy traffic, according to PennDOT.
Exceeding a posted weight limit is possible provided the vehicle driver obtains a permit as the bridge is still safe for traffic.
Four of the 25 are closed. Three of them are owned by the county: Levans Iron Bridge, closed in May 2019; the bridge over the Little Swatara at Golf Road in Bethel Township, closed in December 2017; and the bridge on Yordys (aka Yortys) Bridge Road over the Swatara Creek in East Hanover and North Annville townships, closed in May 2024.
The fourth is on Hogeland Road in Millcreek Township. PennDOT records estimate a daily traffic county of 50 vehicles, but a township employee said that was high as the bridge is on a farm road. While the township has looked at options for reopening the bridge, estimates for that work have run from $500,000 to a $1 million, the township employee said.
So for now, the bridge will remain closed.
When the Golf Road and Levans bridges were closed to vehicular traffic, the county as owner of the structures began deliberations about whether to repair, replace or remove them, Fitzkee said.
County officials and the county’s bridge engineer met with community members, municipal leaders and emergency services representatives to learn who used each structure and about proposed and potential land development projects in adjacent and nearby areas.
Then COVID hit, stopping the deliberation process.
Recently, the county began again to consider the future of the bridges, along with the newly closed Yordys bridge, and is in the process of executing a reimbursement agreement with PennDOT for work on the three, Fitzkee said.
The estimated cost to restore the Golf Road bridge is $4.8 million; to replace Levan’s Iron Bridge, a little more than $3 million; and to restore Yordys, $5.6 million, according to documents provided by the Lebanon County Planning Department.
Once that agreement is signed, then preliminary engineering can begin. Depending on what is discovered during that, the scope of each project could change.
“The preliminary engineering phase will involve evaluation of various improvement scenarios and options,” Fitzkee said. “We will look at impacts and conditions, try to assign estimated costs to those scenarios and then discuss them with decision makers to determine which one is most appropriate and makes the most sense.”
For the Levans bridge, that might mean replacing the superstructure — the part of the bridge driven on — rather than building a new bridge. Using the existing abutments, widths and alignment would lower the cost, Fitzkee said.
The preliminary engineering phase can take anywhere from 4 to 14 months, according to PennDOT.
“It’s human nature to take these structures for granted in our day-to-day travels, until there’s a detour or inconvenience to our lives, and then we wonder what’s taking so long or why it hasn’t been taken care of previously,” Wolgemuth said in an email. “The costs (of fixing or replacing a bridge) are immense and the engineering, due to ever-increasing standards, is time-consuming.”
Planning for the future
Pennsylvania’s infrastructure has the unfortunate distinction as some of the oldest in the U.S., according to the American Society of Civil Engineers 2022 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure.
Overall Pennsylvania’s infrastructure received a C- in that report, with bridges faring worse with a D+.
While infrastructure investment has had a recent boost, budgets have not kept pace with the need — and that has led to rethinking how best to use limited funds.
PennDOT is pursuing a new investment strategy for state-owned bridges and roads. Rather than spending money on structures in the worst condition, PennDOT is focusing in preserving and improving that infrastructure in order to extend their service life, PennDOT’s Thompson said.
“The concept is logical — the right treatment at the right time to improve the assets as opposed to a ‘worst first’ approach, which focuses on the assets in poorest condition at the expense of preserving those in better condition,” he added.
That shift might seem to doom the fate of the three closed bridges owned by the county. But the bridges were considered priorities before the investment change and still remain key for the county, Fitzkee said.
Even so, the bridges’ reopenings are not guaranteed.
“We will evaluate each of the bridges, considering a number of factors and impacts as well as taking into account the everchanging and evolving landscape of funding, resource availability, new regulations and requirements,” Fitzkee said in an email.
“It is important to remember that a host of factors, which are always in flux, impact our projects and may require a reevaluation of the planned approach at any point in the project development process.”
Audit finds issues with PennDOT’s bridge inspection program
A three-year audit of PennDOT’s bridge inspection program turned up some issues that can be addressed through implementation of process improvements, according to Auditor General Timothy DeFoor.
“Processes matter, documentation matters,” DeFoor said at a recent press conference where he released the audit findings. “It is important for our safety and investment of our tax dollars that PennDOT follow its processes.”
Among the issues highlighted in the findings were inspection teams whose members didn’t have the required qualifications and inconsistencies in how inspection reports were written and filed.
“PennDOT mostly agreed with our findings,” DeFoor said.
During the audit of inspection reports filed between July 1, 2020, and May 10, 2023, PennDOT spent $1.2 billion to rehab and replace bridges in poor condition or in risk of failing, DeFoor said.
DeFoor cautioned that a “poor condition” rating for a bridge doesn’t mean it is unsafe. Rather steps need to be taken to repair the bridge.
“It can still be used while that process is going on,” he said.
He also noted that PennDOT has some of the toughest standards in the nation for bridge inspection.
“Bridges are better than when we started the audit,” DeFoor said. “Hopefully, that will continue.”
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