A court order to protect the Skinners Falls Bridge was denied in federal court last night.
United States District Court Judge Karoline Mehalchick ruled against advocates’ Temporary Restraining Order (TRO). It would have protected the historic Skinners Falls Bridge from demolition.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) planned to begin demolition of the historic Baltimore truss bridge on Thursday, April 10. Advocates filed a preliminary injunction in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on Tuesday, April 8 to protect the bridge.
The case went to federal court since Skinners Falls is an interstate bridge connecting Milanville, Pa., and Skinners Falls, New York, and its demolition is part of a project funded by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA.)
Damascus Citizens for Sustainability, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting the Delaware River Watershed, and local activist Cynthia Nash are listed as plaintiffs. They filed the motion against the FHWA and Sean Duffy, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation.
On Friday, Attorney Andrea Ferster argued on behalf of the plaintiffs that PennDOT did not do its due diligence in considering alternatives to demolition for the historically significant bridge. Skinners Falls is listed twice in the National Register of Historic Places. She did not call witnesses.
She argued PennDOT could use netting to protect residents from any falling debris from the bridge.
On Dec. 16, Gov. Josh Shapiro issued an emergency order for PennDOT to remove the bridge after officials received eyewitness accounts of pieces of the bridge falling into the water.
Mehalchick asked the defendant’s lawyer, Richard Euliss, an assistant attorney for the U.S. Middle District of Pennsylvania, if the case could set a precedent for PennDOT to demolish structures without considering alternatives if granted an emergency order by the governor.
Euliss responded he “trusts the system” and Skinners Falls will fall on its own, regardless of what PennDOT does. He called two witnesses from the FWHA who said the bridge is “melting” and poses a significant danger to human life.
Damascus Citizens for Sustainability plans to have a response to the case uploaded to their website later today, according to Cynthia Nash.
— Isabela Weiss