While no start date is known for the Hill Church Road and Thompson Avenue traffic improvement project in 2026, construction isn’t expected to be delayed due to the indefinite closure of nearby Clear Spring Road.
Read More: Specific Hill Church Road traffic safety project improvements are revealed
Hill Church and Clear Spring roads are in North Annville Township and are major connectors to state Route 934, which leads to U.S. Route 422. Clear Spring Road was closed indefinitely on May 7 due to a bridge defect on the west side of the superstructure that was found during a biennial inspection of the roadway on April 28.
Read More: Clear Spring Road in N. Annville Twp. closed indefinitely due to bridge defects
“We do not anticipate any impacts on the Hill Church Road project beginning from any road/bridge restrictions on Clear Spring Road. This road is west of SR 934 (Bellegrove Road) while the Hill Church Road project is east of SR 934,” said Dave Thompson, District 8 spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
Earlier this year PennDOT announced a traffic safety improvement project at the Hill Church Road and Thompson Avenue intersection and sought public comment on an initial plan that would have cut a swath through a section of Jim Hoffman’s preserved farmland.
Hoffman’s farm is located about one-tenth of a mile east of the dangerous intersection along Hill Church Road that has limited sight distance at the stop signs on Thompson Avenue.
After public comment was overwhelmingly in favor of finding different solutions than taking his land via eminent domain, PennDOT released a new plan in late April, based on public comment and input from township supervisors, that would take several corrective actions.
Thompson said those improvements consist of an all-way stop intersection, lowering the vertical curve along the east leg of Hill Church Road, installing an intersection control beacon (i.e. overhead flashing red light), and roadway rumble strips on all roadway approaches to the intersection. Thompson also said “roadway widths and shoulders will be widened to PennDOT standards.”
A digital version of the information is available to view online through May 30. Project documents can be made available in alternative languages or formats by contacting project manager Dan Rocuskie at (717) 705-6181 or drocuskie@pa.gov.
About the same time the new project on Hill Church Road project was being announced to the public, defects in the superstructure in the bridge that crosses the Norfolk Southern Railroad tracks on Clear Spring Road were discovered. Nine days later, the bridge was closed until repairs, which are the responsibility of the railroad, can be made.
However, given Norfolk Southern’s recent track record, specifically with a bridge on Laudermilch Road, Dauphin County, that’s been closed for more than a year, local residents are wondering how soon repairs on Clear Spring Road will happen.
As reported by the Hummelstown Sun, a $10.6 million project to replace the Laudermilch Road bridge over the railroad’s tracks began in November 2023, but has already been delayed a year past its estimated completion date in July 2025.
North Annville residents at the township’s May 12 meeting questioned who was responsible for bridge repairs and how soon they would be made given the ongoing delays with the Dauphin County bridge.
Township supervisor Adam Wolfe previously told LebTown that between 5,000 and 6,000 cars a day drive the 2-mile Clear Spring Road that connects state Route 934 to U.S. Route 422, according to a 2023 traffic study.
The three-mile stretch of Hill Church Road is also a heavily traveled roadway in the township, according to board chairman Clyde Meyer, who told LebTown drivers use it to bypass Annville and Palmyra to go to work in Hershey.
Staff for state Sen. Chris Gebhard (R-48) and state Rep. Russ Diamond have been in contact with Norfolk Southern concerning the bridge’s closure. Diamond told LebTown on May 14 that his office had reached out to the railroad but had not spoken directly to any officials there.
Meanwhile, it was announced at the township’s May 12 meeting that the railroad had hired engineering firm Michael Baker to repair the bridge structure. During the meeting, Meyer read an email from a railroad official that had been sent to township secretary Wolfe.
That statement said the railroad had “engaged Michael Baker to design repairs for the approach retaining walls to the bridge. They had a site visit on Wednesday to get initial information for the walls. At this time it does not appear that there is a quick fix for the problem given the height of the walls, minor rotation and proximity to the roadway. Designs and repair is underway but will likely take three, four months based on the information we have at this time.”
“And that is just for design, that is not the actual fix. So we know no time as to how long it’s going to be shut down,” Meyer said.
Supervisor Aaron Miller, who works in the construction industry, said time is needed to prepare a proper repair plan.
“To get a solution, it’s going to take more of an in-depth study on what’s happening there than doing just a quick review,” Miller said. “And that’s why they’re doing this three to four months to get a plan together.”
LebTown previously reported that a PennDOT letter said “components of the bridge substructure exhibited out-of-tolerance deficiencies resulting in the issuance of a Critical Priority (Priority 0) Maintenance Notification on May 1. The deficiencies are related to outward rotation and active movement of the Near Abutment (South Abutment) concrete U-wings.”
That letter was sent to the secretary of the Pennsylvania Utility Commission, who has oversight of railroads in the commonwealth. The PUC has issued a docket number for the railroad repair project for individuals interested in receiving updates.
The docket number for the Clear Spring Road bridge project is A-2025-3055047. Residents who wish to follow developments in this project can register online through the PUC’s eFiling system to track documents as they become available.
The current detours for Clear Spring Road are routes 934 and 422. LebTown previously reported that vehicles weighing over 10 tons are prohibited from traveling on nearby Syner Road due to township weight restrictions on another bridge on that roadway, which ends at Clear Spring Road near the railroad bridge.
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