Click here to subscribe today or Login.
Companies interested in demolishing the dilapidated Coxton Railroad Bridge over the Susquehanna River must submit bids by this Monday, according to the Luzerne County Redevelopment Authority.
The authority tentatively agreed to meet Aug. 29 to award the demolition contract to the lowest responsible bidder.
Demolition will end years of fears that the long-abandoned span linking Exeter and Duryea will collapse and create a flood threat by acting as a dam.
LAG Wrecking, of Duryea, had purchased the bridge from the authority for $500 in 2007 but never carried out its plans to demolish the bridge and sell the steel for scrap.
The authority agreed to take back ownership of the bridge in February, allowing the authority access to $1 million in state disaster recovery funding to complete the project. The state Department of Environmental Protection had encouraged the authority to assume ownership because the state agency had exhausted legal options to force LAG to address the problem.
Two piers supporting the bridge are severely deteriorated, and there is no way of knowing if the structure would collapse immediately or in years, the state said.
Authority board members voted last week to execute a $64,200 contract with Borton-Lawson in Wilkes-Barre to perform engineering services for the project.
The demolition is expected to begin this fall but is dependent on river levels being low enough to facilitate bringing in heavy equipment to dismantle and carry away pieces of the steel structure and concrete and stone bridge piers and abutments, officials said.
Authority board member Scott Linde, who works in the construction field as head of Linde Corp. in Pittston, estimated the project should take about 30 to 45 days.
“It’s an easy job,” Linde said.
The authority also is seeking a railroad consultant to evaluate its assets, with an Oct. 2 deadline for proposals.
Board members came up with the idea for an independent review earlier this year when they were faced with an administration proposal to generate revenue and prevent future theft losses by selling 8.11 miles of unused rail for scrap.
Luzerne Susquehanna Railway Co., which maintains and operates the authority’s 55 miles of track, had discovered sections of abandoned rail removed by thieves in Pittston Township and other areas.
The authority rejected the sale after county Councilman Rick Williams’ warning that the underlying land could revert back to the original property owners if the rail line is removed, stifling a future goal to bring passenger train service from New York City to Scranton and then Wilkes-Barre.
The consultant will evaluate all track material to identify inactive sections that could be sold for scrap and authority-owned land along all tracks that could be sold or leased to developers, the proposal says.