Old William Penn bridge in Murrysville has weight rating reduced to 6 tons

Vehicles over 6 tons will be temporarily unable to use a small bridge carrying Old William Penn Highway over Turtle Creek in Murrysville, after the bridge’s weight rating was reduced for the second time in the past few years, according to municipal officials.

“It’s an immediate concern and it’s something we’re going to be working through,” Murrysville chief administrator Michael Nestico said. “It will be a concern for fire trucks, certainly. Police and EMS vehicles will fall under the new tonnage limit.”

The small bridge, near the intersection of Old William Penn and Hills Church Road near Griff’s Italian Ice & Soft Serve, had its load reduced to 16 tons in 2022, according to Murrysville officials. It is the result of periodic inspections of municipal infrastructure.

Pittsburgh-based SAI Engineering is contracted through PennDOT to conduct bridge inspections across the state, including in Murrysville, municipal engineering technician Emily Mallisee said.

“They do inspections and issue a report every two years. Prior to 2022, the bridge was in decent shape and didn’t have a posted weight limit,” Mallisee said.

The most recent report indicated the bridge needed its weight limit further reduced.

“That’s a huge problem, because buses are over 6 tons, commercial tractor trailers are over, and that corridor gets a lot of traffic,” Mallisee said.

Franklin Regional Superintendent Gennaro Piraino said school officials are in the process of adjusting their transportation plans.

“We have approximately 35 students between all grade levels that we’re pulling off the larger buses,” he said. “They are being reassigned to a (smaller) bus. We’re going to be scheduling them … so parents letters can go out in anticipation of a (March 11) start date.”

White Valley is the closest fire department to the bridge. Chief John Bohinc said the weight reduction shouldn’t pose a huge problem for emergency services.

“It depends on where we’re going,” Bohinc said. “It definitely could add to some response times, but it really depends on the nature of the call, and it shouldn’t have a drastic effect.”

Mallisee said Murrysville has applied for a local share account grant through the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development to try and secure money to fix the bridge. Those grants have not yet been awarded.

Nestico said municipal officials were working on mapping out a detour.

“When the weight rating was initially reduced, we posted the bridge,” Nestico said. “I’m not sure that all the heavy loads stayed off, and that may have played into the new reduced rating.”

The fine in Murrysville for disobeying a traffic control device is $150, according to police Chief Tom Seefeld.

“As with all other rules of the road, we would enforce this when appropriate,” Seefeld said. “I’d encourage motorists to abide by any restrictions set in place, as it’s to the benefit of their safety, as well as other motorists.”

“Right now we’re working on a plan for an emergency repair that can get us through the design phase for a new bridge at some point,” Mallisee said.