Everyone who travels back and forth from Carbon to Monroe County via the Route 209 bridge in Kresgeville is going to be affected by an upcoming replacement project.

Even people who travel from one end of the township to the other to go to the post office or bank near Route 534 on the main thoroughfare will be affected.The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is going to discuss the project in an open house from 4-6 p.m. Wednesday at the Polk Township Municipal Building, 165 Polk Township Road in Kresgeville.Project plans will be on display at the meeting.The bridge replacement is part of the Rapid Bridge Replacement project, a Public-Private Partnership between PennDOT and Plenary Walsh Keystone Partners under which PWKP will design, replace and maintain the bridges for 25 years.The project is certain to affect businesses along the bustling intersection.Sandra Domenico, who owns the Kresgeville Deli, said she still wasn't fully certain how the project will affect her business."If they're going to close the bridge, it's going to be a severe negative impact," Domenico said. "Either way, it's going to impact us negatively."Unless, of course, all of the construction guys come in for breakfast and lunch."Domenico said she anticipates the project will have the same effect on the township's fire department, as well as tourist traffic to Beltzville State Park, to name a few.Billy Tippett, Polk Township Fire Chief, said he would like to sit through the open house before he comments on the impact the project will have on the fire company, and added the fire company would come up with a plan afterward.Tippett said after the meeting the fire company would determine how to provide the best fire protection to residents during construction, including using more mutual aid until the project is completed.He said the biggest problem would be if there were accidents in the area of Silver Spring Boulevard and Route 209, because you "can see it but you can't get to it."Domenico said Route 209 "is a major thoroughfare, so to have it shut down or closed even for a partial amount of time will have a negative impact on the community. Hopefully, they'll do whatever they have to do to make it quick, and to leave some access where there's at least some traffic flow."Domenico said she plans to attend the open house."We're hopeful that we'll be able to give some feedback," she said. "We're hopeful that our loyal, regular customers will still seek us out, because we do have a big following, a loyal base of customers who come."Rich Cherry, owner of Cherry's Sunset Family Restaurant, said he also believes the project will have an adverse effect on his business."You can't be negative about it because it's an improvement on the area," Cherry said. "But, as a business owner, you're reluctant to let it happen, but it's got to happen."It's going to affect our business big time, but what can you do?"Cherry said that while it's been known in advance the project would eventually get underway, it doesn't make it any easier to deal with."Right now, with the economy, it's hard to make a living, really hard," he said. "We're just bracing for it."Constructed in 1925, the structure it is a 50-foot, two-span, concrete T-beam bridge which currently carries a 25-ton single vehicle limit and a combined 38-ton limit. Average daily traffic is 10,240 vehicles.To see other bridges included in the statewide initiative, and to learn more about the Rapid Bridge Replacement Project and P3 in Pennsylvania, visit

www.P3forPA.gov.Additional information on the project, the team and how to bid on the project can be found at

www.PARapidBridges.com.