A Carbon County bridge will soon be replaced.

During the county commissioners' meeting on Thursday, county administrator Eloise Ahner announced the apparent lowest bidder for the bridge 16 replacement project. Bridge 16 is a single-lane bridge along Koch Road in Towamensing Township.Bids were opened electronically at 11 a.m. Thursday by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, per the project agreement, and sent to the commissioners.The low bidder appears to be Fabcor Inc., who bid $1,350,550.92 for the project. Other bids came in between $1.449 million and $1.965 million.Commissioner Wayne Nothstein, chairman, said that PennDOT officials were happy with the bids because they came in under estimate. Because of this, it means all funding for the project is in place and no other funds are needed.PennDOT officials then emailed board to say they will be in touch with their recommendation and a time for Nothstein to log in to the system to concur with the recommendation.Nothstein questioned this, asking what will happen if the date PennDOT picks for him to concur with the decision is before the next commissioners' meeting.There was no answer to this.Commissioner William O'Gurek said that he agrees with Nothstein's question, asking what if he and Commissioner Thomas J. Gerhard don't agree with the recommendation.The board said that they were unsure how this would work because this is the first time they ever dealt with a bidding process like this.Officials have been working at replacing the bridge, which is a 60-foot bridge that spans Pohopoco Creek, since 1999 after a bus company raised concerns about the integrity of the structure.At that time, the county lowered the weight limit to five tons.In 2008, Judy Borger, director of Carbon County Planning and Development, testified to the Northeastern Pennsylvania Rural Transportation Planning Organization on the integrity of the bridge and raised some concerns, including the narrow width, deteriorating arches and worn decks.In 2009, the county approved an engineering agreement, developed by PennDOT, for services associated with the replacement of Bridge 16.On Feb. 3, 2011, a public hearing was held to discuss the design concept, answer questions and accept input about the project.On Aug. 4, 2011, the board approved a resolution and supplemental reimbursement agreement with PennDOT for final design, utility and right-of-way costs associated with the replacement of Bridge 16. The reimbursement includes $589,600 from the Federal Highway Administration and $147,400 from the state Liquid Fuels fund.In November 2011, the commissioners voted to amend the contract with Carbon Engineering of Summit Hill to prepare the specifications for the replacement project. That contract was expected to not exceed $737,000 $270,000 for preliminary design work, $305,000 for final design work, $108,000 for utilities and $54,000 for rights of way.Towamensing Township officials also brought it to the board's attention that there is a historical ordinance in place that states before any demolition can take place, a 90-day notice must be provided to the township. That prompted the township's historical society to raise the flag with regard to the county's plans, and a subsequent review by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission ruled the bridge was not eligible for placement on the National Register of Historic Places.The township then asked the county to consider keeping the bridge in place for a bicycle and pedestrian bridge and constructing a second bridge for vehicular traffic. This option is not feasible, the commissioners had stated, because of costs associated with the project. The final design will mimic the architecture of the current bridge.In January 2013, the board voted to adopt a resolution regarding the acquisition of necessary right of way for reconstruction of the bridge; authorize Nothstein to sign a waiver of rights concerning a portion of property necessary for the project; and authorize Keystone Acquisition Service Corp. to forward letters of authorization for acquisition of the rights of way to the property owners on behalf of the county.In September 2013, the commissioners approved an agreement with PPL Electric Utilities for the relocation of utilities relative to the replacement of the bridge. The estimated cost was $33,717.13 and is reimbursable under Penn-DOT grants for the project.