DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Finding Montgomery County [33 Pa.B. 4370] Under section 2002(b) of The Administrative Code of 1929 (71 P. S. § 512(b)), the Secretary of Transportation makes the following written finding:
The Federal Highway Administration and the Department of Transportation (Department) plan to replace the Salfordville Road Bridge (S.R. 1017) over the East Branch of the Perkiomen Creek in Lower Salford Township, Montgomery County, PA.
The subject project will require use of the National Register eligible Alderfer-Groff's Mill Rural Historic District and Groff's Mill Park. The project will require acquisition of 0.13 hectares (0.32 acres) of land from the Alderfer-Groff's Mill Rural Historic District including 0.05 hectares (0.13 acres) of park property.
The environmental, economic, social, and other effects of the proposed project as enumerated in Section 2002 of the Administrative Code have been considered. It has been concluded that there is no feasible and prudent alternative to the project as designed, and all reasonable steps have been taken to minimize such effects. In order to minimize the amount of section 4(f) protected property impacted by the project, the new bridge will cross the East Branch of the Perkiomen Creek in essentially the same location. Due to the necessary improvements to the roadway geometry, the new structure will be at a skew to the existing bridge. Other measures to minimize impacts include minimum width shoulders on and off of the bridge, a minimum sidewalk width of 1.2 meter (4 foot) and 3.4 meter (11 foot) travel lanes reduced from the typical 3.6-meter (12 foot) width. Additionally, the proposed structure will incorporate several design modifications to mimic some of the unique attributes of the existing bridge. For instance, the outside of the new parapet will duplicate the paneled look of the existing parapet; the new endwalls and wingwalls will have lateral striations built into the formwork, similar to the existing structure, and finally, the new concrete will be treated so as to give it a weathered appearance.
The Secretary has considered the environmental, economic, social and other effects of the proposed project as enumerated in section 2002 of The Administrative Code of 1929 and has concluded that there is no feasible and prudent alternative to the project as designed, and all reasonable steps have been taken to minimize the effect.
ALLEN D. BIEHLER, P. E.,
Secretary[Pa.B. Doc. No. 03-1708. Filed for public inspection August 29, 2003, 9:00 a.m.]
