EBENSBURG — Two years ago, PennDOT officials said their focus was moving from highways to bridges.

A new list of capital improvement projects in Cambria and Somerset counties shows the agency has maintained that commitment.

Officials from PennDOT’s District 9 office and local workers met with municipal and school officials from across the two counties during separate meetings Wednesday. They outlined work for this construction season and announced next year’s projects.

“We want you to see how our priorities are set and how we spend the money. It is your money,” District 9 Executive Tom Prestash told about 25 Cambria County officials.

While materials and labor costs are growing and revenue is shrinking, plans are in the works to replace or significantly rehabilitate five bridges in Cambria County, including the Strank Memorial Bridge. The projects approach $10 million.

Also planned are three culvert replacements on Route 53 near Dysart and on Beaver Valley Road in northeastern Cambria County.

Five bridges in Somerset County will be replaced or significantly rehabilitated, including spans in Tire Hill and Central City.

Somerset will get one highway improvement project - on Route 31 near Seven Springs Mountain Resort.

“That is the only one we have planned as far as highway projects,” said Vince Greenland, assistant district executive for design.

“We’re doing a lot of bridges. We are making significant progress, and that’s good.”

For many years the focus was on highways, but with many Pennsylvania bridges more than 75 years old, there had to be a shift in priorities, Prestash said.

In 1994, 60 percent of the available transportation capital statewide went to highways. In 2009, bridges are getting about 52 percent of the funding.

Bridges and highways alike will benefit from a portion of the more than $1 billion the state is getting in federal stimulus money.

District 9, which includes the counties of Cambria, Somerset, Bedford, Blair, Huntingdon and Fulton, is getting $46 million. Prestash vows to have every dollar committed to a contractor by June.

Whether the money is coming from the stimulus package or PennDOT’s 2009 budget, work will be done this year on a section of Route 22 near Ebensburg, the Coopersdale and Ferndale bridges, Beulah Bridge, the Mini Mall Road intersection in Cambria Township, Lake Rowena Bridge, Scalp Avenue and old Route 22 near Munster.

Bids are still to be opened for bridge preservation and highway resurfacing on Route 219 from The Galleria to Sidman, Route 22 concrete rehabilitation west of Ebensburg, Route 56 west and a number of smaller projects.

More than a half dozen bridges are under contract for replacement or rehabilitation in Somerset County, and five others will be bid in May and June, PennDOT officials said.





Area projects

Upcoming federally funded capital projects to be bid in fall 2009 or spring 2010:

Cambria County

• Strank Memorial Bridge on Route 271 near Conemaugh, replacement and rehabilitation.

• Locust Street Bridge on Route 271 near Franklin, replacement.

• Sonman Run Bridge near Route 164 in Portage Township, replacement.

• Riverside Bridge off Eisenhower Boulevard, rehabilitation.

Somerset County

• Overlay and intersection improvements on Route 31 near Seven Springs Resort.

• Casselman River Bridge at Meyersdale-Summit Township line, rehabilitation.

• North Central City Laurel Run Bridge, replacement.

• Confluence Bridge, in borough, superstructure replacement.

• South Shanksville Bridge, Stonycreek Township, superstructure replacement.

• Tire Hill Bridge, Conemaugh Township, superstructure replacement.