Editor’s note: This week we are reviewing the top stories of 2016. Today we look at the completion of the Route 903 bridge and a plaque dedicated to the late Slatington police chief Ted Kistler.

Jim Thorpe saw a major of piece of transportation infrastructure replaced in 2016 as a new Route 903 bridge was built 940 feet upstream across the Lehigh River.The $28 million Sgt. Andrew J. “AJ” Baddick Memorial Bridge opened July 1 and connects Route 903 with Route 209, replacing a structure which Pennsylvania Department of Transportation officials deemed structurally deficient.General contractor Allan A. Myers LP began installing the four-span continuous steel plate girder bridge in 2014. The project also included the widening of Route 209 between Liberty and Packer Hill roads and construction of retaining walls.“This was a unique project in that we don’t build a lot of these with this long of spans,” said Calvin Ulshafer, project manager for PennDOT.“Crossing the river and dealing with two different active railroads, one tourist and one freight, we had to go through some of the same reviews multiple times. In the end, we’re happy, think it looks great and we met our schedule, which is always a good thing.”Borough officials have praised the new bridge and its traffic patterns, noting that it has helped to alleviate some of the backups that traditionally occur on Route 209.There is a left-turn lane coming from Nesquehoning on Route 209. Motorists coming from downtown Jim Thorpe also have a right-turn lane. Going off the bridge on to Route 209, there are turn lanes in both directions.With a new bridge came the demolition of the old one, a 613-foot structure built in 1953 and updated in 1976.While PennDOT had always planned to bring the bridge down, a group of people hoping to save it made a last-ditch effort for its preservation.Despite rumored interest from Andy Muller, owner of the Reading and Northern Railroad, in purchasing it as a pedestrian thoroughfare, it was demolished.“It would have been nice to accommodate that, but the bridge is just too far gone,” PennDOT spokesman Ron Young said.Charles Bott of Nesquehoning and Todd Konstas of Summit Hill led the push to save the old bridge, hoping it could be transformed into a pedestrian walkway and park akin to the High Line in New York City.Jim Thorpe Borough opposed the idea, stating it did not want to be liable for the bridge if a future owner walked away from it.