Public Input Sought on Limekiln Pike Bridge

Two options are on the table for Limekiln Pike Bridge: Rehabilitate it this spring; or keep it restricted to one lane while developing plans to address alignment issues and start construction in three or more years “depending on funding.”

PennDOT officials are holding a to hear feedback from the public on the alternatives for the structurally deficient Route 152 bridge over Little Neshaminy Creek in Horsham and Montgomery townships.

The bridge, which is posted with a five-ton weight restriction, is 43 feet long and 26 feet wide, and has been restricted to one southbound lane since May 2010, PennDOT officials said. It carried 9,200 vehicles a day prior to being restricted to southbound-only traffic, PennDOT spokesman Gene Blaum said.

Pat Kohler, owner of Horsham’s Kohler Farm on Limekiln Pike, attributes the nearly two years of detours to a 25 percent to 35 percent decline in customers buying goods from her family-owned farm market.  

Kohler has been trying to spread the word to customers and everyone she speaks to about the importance of attending Thursday’s meeting, which will be held at the at 7 p.m.

“We are optimistic about getting the bridge opened in the next year,” Kohler said. “We're hoping for an early Christmas gift.”

that the plan was to award a construction bid sometime in 2015 and have work continue – and the bridge remained restricted – possibly through 2016. The community had, in previous meetings, referenced the need to smooth out the curve and widen the span. If those issues take precedent over fixing and opening both lanes of the bridge, the timeline of several years would be accurate. But, if PennDOT proceeds with rehabilitating the bridge and addressing alignment concerns later, the bridge could be open by summer or late fall of 2012, Blaum said.

For the sake of her business, Kohler has said she can’t wait years for the lane to be reopened.

“If they won't agree to just fix it and get it opened it will take more than six years,” she said. “They have no plan, no funding and no time line.”