Swatara Township announces North Lancaster St. bridge’s 18-ton weight limit

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The Swatara Township Board of Supervisors announced at the Aug. 14 meeting that the bridge on North Lancaster Street crossing Oil Creek now has a weight limit of 18 tons after a bridge inspection. The limitation has no exceptions for local or emergency vehicles.

Wilson Consulting Group examined the bridge and sent the report. Supervisors said they didn’t know the reasons for the weight limit at the time of the meeting.

“We had no input on that — we just got notice,” supervisor Dean Patches said. “[They] didn’t give us a heads-up, didn’t sit down and talk with us.”

Supervisor and chief of the Bunker Hill Fire Company Rick Kreitzer said some emergency vehicles like ambulances fit under the 18-ton maximum, but the company’s tanker full of water will not be able to cross the bridge.

“If you live that way and we’re on your route, our pumper tanker’s going to have to go around to get to you because we’re at 21 tons,” he said. “I did notify the 57 Group and the 41 Group from Fredericksburg we may have to go around to get where we’re going.”

Kreitzer said they use that road often and might have to consider going to Route 72. This could lead to longer response times.

Winter maintenance and local businesses could also be affected, as salt trucks and feed trucks at local farms could exceed the 18-ton limit.

Supervisors said this bridge had issues before due to flood damage, and the township spent about $90,000 to address them back in 2018.

“If there’s something that can be fixed for $20,000, it might be worth looking at, but we don’t know anything right now,” Patches said. 

Kreitzer echoed that message, saying the township might need to look into fixing the issues, but might consider getting a second opinion first.

“We may have to. I’m not going to say we are,” he said. “We’ll have to see what’s going on, and we may even get our own engineer involved to see if there’s a dispute of what’s going on because we don’t know.”

In other business, supervisors: 

• Tabled a discussion of whether they will purchase the 0.25-acre plot of land next to the township’s Supervisors Drive properties. It was assessed at $45,000, which is the maximum the township can buy it for. Supervisors said they’ll consider it in next year’s budget.
• Announced the township will start looking for an architect to design the office building it hopes to create by renovating 48 Supervisors Drive.
• Approved NL Soccer’s field usage. The team requested Aug. 4 through Oct. 23, Monday through Thursday, 5:30 to 8 p.m. for practices, and Sept. 6 through Oct. 25, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. for games.
• Said they will get prices for a microphone and speaker system for the township meeting room so residents attending the meeting can hear better.

The Swatara Township Board of Supervisors will have its next regular meeting at 7 p.m. on Sept. 11 at 68 Supervisors Drive.