Crews working on two Carbon County-owned bridges will have a little more time to finish the projects.

On Thursday, the county commissioners voted to approve two time extensions for bridge 16 and bridge 17 renovation projects. Bridge 16 is located on Koch Road in Towamensing Township while bridge 17 is the covered bridge along Covered Bridge Road in Lower Towamensing Township.Commissioners' Chairman Wayne Nothstein said the extensions were necessary due to weather and products not being ready in time.In the case of bridge 16, the expected completion date is now July 31.Nothstein said the reason for the delay is because the fabrication of the concrete arches were not able to be completed in time by a third-party vendor, and because winter shuts down the construction process."It wasn't the fault of the contractor," Nothstein said. "The supplier couldn't get the prefabricated concrete arches done in time."The cost for the bridge replacement is $1.35 million.On the covered bridge, the new completion date is Dec. 3 because minor concrete work and painting still needs to be completed.Nothstein said the month extension was just a precaution because crews were at the mercy of the weather. He expects the bridge to be open by the end of November if the weather cooperates.The cost for the repairs is $291,126.In another bridge-related matter, the county sent a letter to the Jim Thorpe Area School District asking that the school's full-size school buses not use bridge 12, which is located along North Old Stage Road in Penn Forest Township, because they would exceed the 5-ton weight limit.Nothstein said the county engineer looked at the bridge recently and felt it was best to remind the school that the bridge was not safe for buses at this time."We owe it to the safety of the students, the school district and everyone involved," he said, adding that it's a liability for the county if they don't follow the engineer's recommendation.Commissioner Thomas J. Gerhard said there are some structural deficiencies under the bridge that are the reason for the 5-ton weight limit."One of the beams only has 37 percent of the original section remaining," which could compromise the structure when a heavier vehicle, like a school bus, is on it, he said.Brian Gasper, superintendent of Jim Thorpe Area School District, said on Friday that the school was made aware of the issue last year and the bus company had not been using the bridge to transport the students since then.