Ten bridges in Centre County will be replaced over the next three years. It’s part of a project that will cost the state $899 million and the private group working on the bridges said that number represents time and cost-savings.

It’s called the Rapid Bridge Replacement Project. Four Centre County bridges will be replaced in 2016, five in 2017 and one in 2018.

Plenary Walsh Keystone Partners will oversee construction. They’re working on 558 bridges statewide, a project they said will save the state $400,000 per bridge.

“It allows these things to be completed a lot faster and the designers are only using three basic templates for design,” Public Information Manager Dan Galvin said. “So, you can purchase a whole lot of equipment and materials in advance.”

Two of the bridges are in Haines Township. Warren Leitzel drives on the bridge at Bower Hollow Road over Pine Creek multiple times per day.

“It’s a bad angle, it’s a pretty small bridge and it’s old,” he said. “A couple of summers ago, an 18 wheeler tried to cross this bridge, got stuck in the middle because it’s a real hard angle on this one end of the bridge. It took a while to pry it loose.”

According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, Pennsylvania has the highest percentage of structurally deficient bridges in the country. Nearly one in four of the commonwealth’s 22,000 bridges are considered structurally deficient.

“Each bridge that we replace comes with a 25 year warranty. We have a branch of the company that will be responsible for filling pot holes, somebody plows into a bridge railing, we go out and make those repairs,” Galvin said. 

The project contractor wants community input on the two Haines Township projects, which are expected to be complete by the end of 2017. They’ll host a public meeting Thursday at the Haines Township Municipal building from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

To learn more about the project and too see what bridges will be replaced in your community, click here.