Dotyville Road Bridge

Most Recent Visit To Bridge: July 1, 2006

Usually construction ahead signs mean doom for truss bridges in Pennsylvania. That however did not appear to be the case with this bridge, oddly enough. New plate steel welded onto the bridge suggested that something else was going on. It almost looked like something revolutionary was going on here... repair! Perhaps PennDOT officials managed to discover the word while looking through a dictionary. Repair certainly isn't usually part of the PennDOT vernacular these days. It used to be... the reason Pennsylvania has more truss bridges than Michigan is most likely because PennDOT maintained the bridges better. But with most bridges, there comes a time when more than repair is needed, and that is when PennDOT becomes evil and chooses demolition over restoration. The work that is going on with the Dotyville Road Bridge might fall closer into the "repair" category than the "restoration" category. I hesitate to call it a restoration, since I think the work being done is for the purpose of simply keeping the bridge in service rather than a long-term renovation with the goal of preserving a historic artifact. Both repairs and total restorations are good for everyone, since both are often less costly than replacement, and it keeps the attractive historic bridge around for people to enjoy.

The other reason I doubt the repairs are being done to preserve a historic bridge is because in the eyes of PennDOT, this bridge isn't even considered historic! Check out the findings from the inventory below. I of course disagree with their findings. Rivet connected bridges are in fact uncommon here in the 21st century. Whether they were over 10 years ago when the historic bridge inventory was done is debatable.