A meeting to discuss access for emergency responders during the time when the McCall Bridge will be under rehabilitation will be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 26, at the Lehighton Borough Building, Second Street in Lehighton.

Ron Young Jr., Pennsylvania Department of Transportation spokesman, said the meeting was scheduled at the request of local emergency service responders.Young said that PennDOT staff and emergency service workers, local fire police, police and fire departments, and any other interested officials who want to learn more about the emergency access plans during the detour phase are encouraged to attend.PennDOT staff will facilitate the meeting.The detourTemporary traffic patterns in Weissport and surrounding the bridge are expected to last three to four months. During that time, Weissport traffic on Bridge Street will be one way for the entire two lanes.PennDOT will install temporary traffic lights at the intersection of Bankway and Bridge streets at the Lehighton end of the Weissport/Lehighton bridge to help with traffic flow.Workers are scheduled to work from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday with some occasional Friday shifts.The project involves rehabilitation of the structure, which carries Route 209 traffic across the Lehigh River, Lehigh Canal, Norfolk Southern Railroad and other local roads.The structural rehabilitation includes deck repairs, new latex modified concrete overlay on the existing deck, new integral approach slabs at each end of the bridge, replacement of all 17 deck joints, placing new protective fencing along both barriers, replacing existing drainage scuppers and new downspout systems.The superstructure repairs include cleaning and repainting the entire superstructure, stiffening gusset plates in the truss spans, adding floor beam cover plates and girder stiffeners to increase capacity.Substructure repairs include replacing/rehabilitating bearings, repairing deteriorated concrete on piers and abutments, reconstructing pier 4, and placing additional protection at piers 2 and 3.J.D. Eckman Inc. of Atglen is the contractor for the $11.8 million project.The McCall Bridge, built in 1938, was last rehabilitated in 1981.