Residents of a small Lansford neighborhood cut off by the Panther Creek are concerned about a deteriorating bridge that provides the only route to access their homes.

There are about a dozen homes along Edgemont Road and Oak Street. The area was once home to a now-abandoned retreat for coal company executives.Residents say that council has been aware of the problem for more than a year, and have only come up with Band-Aid fixes for the span."Council has known about this for years now, going on three years, and putting cones up and caution tape up is not solving the problem," said resident Chris Ondrus.Council members say they want to fix the bridge, but the borough's financial woes are well-known.For those dozen homes, there are no alternative routes. They are surrounded on the east and west by Lehigh Anthracite coal land. To their north, there's a mountain.The only route is the small bridge over the Panther Creek, which is owned entirely by Lansford borough."You'd have to go down in the creek. You're not going to get a vehicle over there. You could walk up there, but that's it," Ondrus said.The bridge isn't in danger of falling down, but a hole that opened up more than a year ago has grown.But there is concern that the bridge could be weight restricted. Council President Martin Ditsky said that's one reason the borough hasn't brought in an engineer to address the problem."If we get a structural engineer in, and he says if he limits the weight limit, or the bridge is condemned, I don't know how much time that gives for a pontoon bridge or whatever," he said at a council meeting earlier this month.Ondrus said that council needs to give it immediate attention, regardless of their fears over the cost."They don't want to contact an engineer because they believe the engineer will say the bridge is deficient and needs to be replaced, and they have no idea how much it will cost. I'm sorry, that's not the right answer, and I don't want to hear that. Safety is paramount to anybody in this town," he said.Council has been in contact with their legislators at the state and federal level to see if there is any money available to help defray the cost of fixing or replacing the bridge. An aide from Rep. Matt Cartwright's office recently surveyed the bridge.In the meantime, residents like Jennifer Maynard are concerned."If there is a weight limit put on that bridge, and I, dear God, have a fire in my home, is my home gonna go up in fire because the firetruck can't get over the bridge?" she asked.