Demolition begins on Narberth's 'orphan' Rockland Avenue Bridge

Closed to vehicular traffic for nearly two decades and to pedestrians for at least one, Narberths Rockland Avenue Bridge is finally coming down for real, this time.

Narberth Borough officials announced that some of the preliminary work for demolition of the span over the tracks used by Amtrak and SEPTAs Paoli-Thorndale regional rail line began July 30.

It should be noted, this is a separate project from the long-anticipated replacement of the North Narberth Avenue bridge in Narberth's downtown. Closure of that imporant link to Lower Merion Township for demolition and construction of a new bridge is expected to begin in 2014.

Additional preparatory work for the Rockland Avenue Bridge demolition will continue over the next few weeks, leading up to actual removal of the bridge span during the weekend of Aug. 23-26.

With final work to clean up and restore the approach areas, the project is expected to be completed by Sept. 20.

In an interview, borough manager Bill Martin said work began on time last week and is running on schedule.

The Rockland Avenue Bridge is one of Pennsylvanias many orphan bridges, built by now-defunct agencies such as railway companies. Responsibility for these structures has fallen to the municipalities in which they sit. In the case of the Rockland Avenue bridge, it was determined that that responsibility lies with Narberth Borough.

As long ago as 2009, the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission had ordered that the defunct bridge had to come down; demolition was originally projected for the following summer. However, working through the process to determine funding responsibilities and coordinate with Amtrak has pushed the project back to this summer. The good news is that, while Narberth will pay a share of the costs, the great majority of funding for the project will come from state and federal sources.

With the project now about to start, a detailed schedule of work has been announced. To avoid disruption of train service, Martin said some of the work involved in the demolition project will take place during nighttime hours.

Leading up to the work, We had two field meetings on the borough side recently, Martin said. Continued...

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Demolition begins on Narberth's 'orphan' Rockland Avenue Bridge