After a five-year stalemate, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and Gov. Josh Shapiro announced they will demolish the Skinners Falls Bridge by winter’s end.
Residents will hold a celebration for the bridge this Sunday to advocate for its protection and historical significance.
Skinners Falls is one of the nation’s last Baltimore truss bridges, according to PennDOT and the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Built in the early 1900s, it connects Milanville, Pa., and Skinners Falls, N.Y., over the Delaware River.
PennDOT and the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) closed the bridge in Oct. 2019 after finding structural damage. Residents from both communities have been fighting ever since to push officials to restore the bridge and maintain its architectural integrity.
Bridge advocates protested plans to tear down the bridge in April during transportation officials’ last Planning and Environmental Linkages (PEL) meeting. A group chanted “Whose bridge? Our bridge!” while holding a poster with “Save the Skinner’s Falls Bridge” written across it.
Officials considered preserving parts of the historic trusses while building a new structure that could support large trucks.
Plans shift in late 2024
Gov. Josh Shapiro issued an emergency order to remove the Skinners Falls Bridge on Dec. 16 after PennDOT and NYSDOT received eyewitness accounts of pieces of the bridge falling into the water.
Officials reported new plans during a virtual meeting on Dec. 17 to demolish the bridge.
Richard Roman, District Executive for PennDOT’s Northeast Region, said the bridge’s structure is quickly deteriorating and failed testing on Oct. 7 despite being closed since 2019.
He said that the bridge must be removed by the end of the season before springtime accelerates cold weather freeze and thaw cycles. The New York side of the bridge is becoming increasingly unstable.
“We have a concern of a collapse of the New York abutment,” said Roman. “We don't know when that would happen. There's no predicting it, but we are concerned when we have that, that there is a threat to the public health and welfare and really the river recreational traffic underneath the bridge.”
Both the National Park Service and a private company, Lander’s River Trips, have boat launches beside the bridge.
Roman warned that a bridge collapse could take lives.
Lisa Brozey, vice president of AECOM, PennDOT’s engineer for the project, said demolition is the only way to prevent bridge collapse while not endangering workers’ safety. AECOM will likely remove the bridge by using a causeway, which Brozey said was their “last resort.”
She added that AECOM may use blasting to aid removal.
Residents’ celebration for the bridge is set for Sunday, Jan. 12, from 2 to 5 p.m. at Delaware Hall in Narrowsburg Union, 7 Erie Ave., Narrowsburg, N.Y.
Organizers say there will be poetry readings, music and a performance of a monologue from The Crossing, a play inspired by the bridge. Bridge advocates and descendants of the bridge’s original builders will give testimony. A potluck will conclude the event. For more information and to RSVP, contact Cynthia Nash at saveskinners@gmail.com.
For more information, visit PennDOT’s Skinners Falls Bridge webpage.