Tentative reopening of Clear Spring Road in North Annville Township announced

Barring any unforeseen road blocks, Clear Spring Road in North Annville Township is slated to reopen to traffic in May. 

An exact date of when it will reopen is still to be determined, according to officials connected to the project.  

North Annville Township supervisor Adam Wolfe shared an email with LebTown from Chris Cawley, structural engineer with Norfolk Southern Corp., that was provided as a project progress report and noted the anticipated completion date.

The railroad bridge that crosses Clear Spring Road near U.S. Route 422 was closed about a year ago due to structural defects discovered during an inspection. The two-mile stretch of Clear Spring Road connects Route 422 to state Route 934 at the north. 

Structural defects were discovered on the west side of the bridge during a biennial inspection on April 28, 2025, by Lebanon County’s engineering firm, Wilson Consulting Group. The county offers their engineering firm to do bridge inspections as a service to all local municipalities.

“Road closed” signs were erected on May 7, 2025. The road officially closed at 9 a.m.

North Annville Township is responsible for maintaining the road surface, while Norfolk Southern is in charge of the bridge’s superstructure and substructure. The bridge, 71 feet long and 31 feet wide, was built in 1937.

The township is renting “road closed” signs that are on both sides of the bridge. It’s possible the township will receive reimbursement for the expense, Wolfe said. It’s unclear, however, if the township will be reimbursed the cost to repave the bridge’s roadway. 

The email from Wolfe also sheds light on what must still transpire before motorists are given the green light to start using Clear Spring Road again. 

Bill Wilson, senior managing officer with Wilson Consulting Group, noted a bridge inspection must occur before the road reopens to traffic.

“We will need to coordinate with all parties to conduct the Initial NBIS (National Bridge Inspection Standards) bridge inspection once construction is complete and prior to reopening the bridge to the public,” wrote Wilson. “Ideally, we would perform this inspection while the bridge remains closed and the contractor is still on-site, as this is the safest and least disruptive time. If possible, it would be preferred to use the contractor’s access equipment, reducing additional coordination, time, and cost.”

Work is ongoing on the east and west sides of all four retaining walls, with those portions being replaced. Additionally, there’s an open area in the roadway that will have to be filled, graded, and paved by the township. 

Supervisor Aaron Miller, who works in construction, issued a statement since he has visited the work site and is monitoring progress for the township. 

“I am glad that both Norfolk Southern and the state reacted so promptly to this project to help ensure that the road closure time was kept to as minimal a duration as possible,” Miller wrote in an email to LebTown. “From the initial engineering review, through creating engineered plans, plan review by the state to the actual construction itself, the entire process moved along as quickly as any that I have seen. Hopefully, with continued good weather and a successful final inspection, we will be able to have the road open again by the end of May.”

Meanwhile, motorists continue to use several detours that utilize routes 934 and 422. That’s especially true for non-local deliveries by trucks, which have been temporarily banned on nearby Shanamantown Road until the Clear Spring Road project is completed. 

When the temporary truck ban was considered for adoption by supervisors in October, township solicitor Paul Bametzreider told the board that the resolution was permissible since officials had previously enacted a detour for the bridge closure.  

“Without that detour plan, you’d have to do a traffic study and all kinds of other things,” said Bametzreider at the October meeting.

While local deliveries have been permitted, trucks were temporarily banned on Shanamantown Road last November following complaints from residents about the increased volume of truck traffic and an accident involving a dump truck at the intersection with Clear Spring Road.

In the September accident, an operator of a dump truck traveling on Shanamanstown Road crossed Clear Spring Road and slammed into several mobile homes located across the street during early morning hours.

The dump truck accident occurred at 5:45 a.m. Sept. 16 while residents who live near those two intersections were asleep. Media reports indicate homes were shifted off their foundations by about three or four feet.

Cleona Borough police chief Jeff Farneski recently told LebTown that the dump truck driver involved in that accident was charged with failing to stop at a posted sign. He noted that the charge was based on an eyewitness account of the accident. 

Since the crash, those damaged mobile homes have been removed and replaced by new ones, as noted by LebTown during a recent drive-by on Clear Spring Road.

The railroad bridge closing was the latest chapter in an ongoing saga concerning Clear Spring Road. 

In October 2024, supervisors unanimously voted to limit trailers on Clear Spring Road to a maximum length of 43 feet. Wolfe said five “no large trucks” and 12 speed limit signs were purchased for just over $1,700 as part of that vote. He said at the time that some of the signs were installed the next day along Clear Spring Road.

That particular ordinance was implemented following complaints from Clear Spring Road residents who were unhappy with the increased amount of truck traffic. 

Officials conducted the Clear Spring Traffic Corridor Study in November 2023. The findings were the basis for the ordinance, since it was revealed that trailers larger than 43 feet were off-tracking – exceeding the size of the travel lane – by 3 feet.

Trucks larger than the maximum limit are still permitted as long as they are making a local delivery within the municipality and have supplied a waiver to North Annville Township listing, among other details, their destination.