People's Bridge repair will benefit West Shore business, proponents say
By Jim T. Ryan
Central PA Business Journal
2/26/2010 11:25 AM
http://www.centralpennbusiness.com/a....asp?aID=74584
Proposals to repair and reopen the western span of the People's Bridge from City Island to Wormleysburg could have a significant economic impact on borough business, said West Shore proponents of the plans.
A repaired bridge would bring more foot traffic to the West Shore to frequent shops and restaurants, giving life to Wormleysburg's revitalization, said David Morrison, a member of the People's Bridge Coalition, which has been advocating for the repair and reuse of the bridge.
The borough, with Camp Hill and Lemoyne, will begin streetscape improvements this year to make the West Shore communities more attractive.
Before any work on the bridge begins, Wormleysburg will have to address the parking problems on Front Street at the foot of the bridge, said Chris Gulotta, executive director of the Cumberland County Housing and Redevelopment Authorities. The area includes popular restaurants and businesses, such Dukes Riverside Bar & Grill and Dockside Willies.
Once those issues are resolved, even a partial opening of the bridge as a fishing pier could add to Wormleysburg's economy, he said.
"We should see additional business development," Gulotta said.
The coalition, county, state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Hampden Township-based Delta Development Group Inc. and the Wormleysburg Revitalization Committee yesterday released a report outlining the options and costs for repairing the bridge.
Three spans of the bridge were damaged in the 1996 floods, two fell immediately and a third span fell down later.
Replacement of the bridge with spans from a similar bridge or new construction would each cost more than $13 million, which Delta Development said in its report could be too expensive to happen before 2013.
Delta proposed intermediate steps, including buying, dismantling and storing the replacement bridge spans to come from the Pond Eddy bridge in Pike County. That would cost $810,000, for which the county has more than half of the money secured, Gulotta said. The Pond Eddy bridge is scheduled to be replaced by 2013.
Delta also suggested rehabilitating the remaining bridge sections and reopening them to the public as observation and fishing piers. That would cost more than $1.5 million, and the county has nearly $1.2 million in secured funding, Gulotta said.
"I think there's opportunity to bring some private sector fundraising into this," he said.
The repair and replacement plans could create 250 construction jobs, he said.
The redevelopment authority is planning a meeting in April to gather input from the public about how best to proceed, Gulotta said.[...]