PennDOT: Extra! Extra! Bid on a historic Pennsylvania bridge
By Rebecca Sinderbrand, The Associated Press
25 May 2001, Altoona Mirror
Harrisburg -- . . . Historic Pennsylvania bridges are being sold at discount prices. The 19th century wrought-iron arch bridges are selling for the bargain price of $22, to name just one recent successful bid.
The goal isn’t to fill state coffers, PennDOT officials said – it’s to preserve an important part of the state’s past. . . . The department has kept a running list of aging bridges up for sale, usually around nine or 10 at a time, for several years. Most of them are “truss” bridges, a style popular in the mid- to late 19th century. The bridges, found mostly in western and northwestern Pennsylvania, can be moved in one piece.
The bridges up for sale are outdated by modern standards . . . and have to be replaced to meet current structural requirements. Federal historic preservation rules require the state to try to sell the structures before it demolishes them.
Local governments get first crack at owning the bridges, but if they decide not to bid, other agencies, nonprofit groups or schools get the chance to take them home. Members of the public also have a chance to buy the bridges. . .
Structures that were built in the era before bridge-abusing heavy trucks and sport utility vehicles took to the roads then can get a new lease on life supporting light traffic and pedestrians. . . .
[included on the list of state-owned historic bridges for sale was]
The Bennett Branch Bridge, a three-span bridge built in 1894 in Benezette Township, Elk County. It crosses the Bennett Branch of the Sinnemahoning River.