Vigilantes have moved barriers to open a bridge in Lower Heidelberg Township.
The bridge, across the Little Cacoosing Creek in Lower Heidelberg, has been crossable for years, but Establishment forces have used concrete barriers to block passage for cars and trucks.
[Disclosure: it’s practically in my back yard.]
Recently, the length of Connecticut Avenue in the Green Valley development that crosses the creek has been paved, and the concrete barriers replaced with plastic barrels and saw-horses.
Desperate drivers, eager to save precious minutes on their commutes, have shoved the stuff aside to open a lane.
Establishment forces, either township police or Grande Construction workers, replace them. When that happens, before someone gets out and takes matters into his or her own hands, a steady stream of vehicles drive to the bridge, pause, and do three-point turns. Many drive down our cul-de-sac, looking for an alternate escape. GPS services have long directed vehicles across the dead-end bridge. Friends have been duped.
Major construction started in September 2011, almost three years ago. The township wants the bridge open for better emergency-response access.The hundreds of families in the development want the bridge open because it shaves minutes off every trip east and lets us avoid The Worst Traffic in Berks County, on Route 422 through Sinking Spring. It saves me at least three minutes a trip from my errands and chauffeuring to Wilson High School and Wyomissing. It saves me driving through a mile of residential streets full of tots, old people, bikes, dogs and school buses.
Grande must have spent $1 million on the bridge. It certainly isn’t among Pennsylvania’s structurally deficient bridges. It has two spans. Grande created acres of wetlands to remediate disturbing the existing wetlands. The company planted dozens of native trees and shrubs and cattails etc.
How many new bridges have been built in Berks lately, especially by a private developer?
I know Establishment forces can’t let us vulnerable citizens drive across unsafe bridges.
But this bridge is safe. What’s the holdup preventing the public from using this high-cost infrastructure? It’s obviously some bureaucratic holdup with state approval or insurance or waiting for a quorum at a summer municipal meeting.
In any case, I’m glad the rules have been broken to let common sense prevail.
Have you asked the township office why it's not open or considered unsafe? Perhaps you need to stage an event such as the "Heartbreak Ridge" rally that got Tom Ridge and the state government to finally move forward on finishing the former Road to Nowhere.
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