Year-long closure looms for Sellersville Main Street

A major thoroughfare in Sellersville will be closed to motorists for about a year amid a bridge rehabilitation construction project, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has revealed.

In a recent letter to Sellersville Mayor Thomas Hufnagle, PennDOT said that Main Street will be closed between East Church Street and West Church Street starting in the autumn of 2019. The closure is expected to last through October 2020, PennDOT said.

During the closure, a detour will direct motorists to use Route 152, Route 309, Lawn Avenue and Route 563.

PennDOT recently awarded Loftus Construction of Cinnaminson, N.J. with a $4,695,000 contract to perform the rehab of the Main Street bridge that carries traffic over the SEPTA-owned tracks. State funds are paying for the project.

Work will include removing the concrete deck, sidewalks and pedestrian railings in order to repair, strengthen and paint the steel single-span pony truss, PennDOT said. The deck, sidewalks and abutment backwalls will be replaced, while the pedestrian railings will be repaired, reinforced and reinstalled.

Built in 1927, the bridge is in a deteriorated condition and is considered structurally deficient, said PennDOT District Executive Kenneth M. McClain in a letter.

“The purpose of this project is to provide a long-term transportation facility capable of handling the volume of expected traffic along this state highway, and to provide roadway improvements, including guide rail repairs and pavement restoration,” McClain said.

Work should begin this summer, but the initial disruption to motorists will be minimal prior the expected fall closure.