Carbon County Bridge 16, located on Koch Road in Towamensing Township, has reopened.

The bridge was shut down last year so the single-lane span could be replaced.The Carbon County Commissioners held an official ribbon cutting ceremony Friday to mark the completion of the structure. Fabcor Inc. of Jessup was the contractor for the $1.35 million replacement project.Of that total, 80 percent was covered by federal funds while the remaining 20 percent was covered by the state.An additional $700,000 was paid by the county out of the liquid fuels fund for design work, securing six right-of-way approvals and to meet the township's historical ordinance.Officials have been working at replacing the bridge, which is a 60-foot bridge, since 1999 after a bus company raised concerns about the integrity of the structure.At that time, the county lowered the weight limit to 5 tons.Since then, county officials worked to secure state approval and funding for the replacement of the bridge.In other matters, Commissioners' Chairman Wayne Nothstein said the county has received letters of support for the proposed multipurpose fire training center from eight of 11 townships and 10 out of 12 boroughs as of Thursday.He said the item was on the upcoming agendas of most of the remaining municipalities, and he planned to attend those meetings to answer any questions the boards may have.Again, Commissioner Thomas J. Gerhard stressed that the letters of support are only being used to help strengthen grant applications to cover the cost of the estimated $10 million structure.Nothstein said the facility is hinged on securing grants, and if enough grant money is not secured, then the project will be scaled back to fit the amount of money secured or it will not happen.The commissioners also authorized the posting of public notice for the Community Development Block Grant project at East Side Borough for the construction of a swale.The notice of finding shows no significant impact to the area and includes the intent to request a release of funds.