The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) recently announced that due to changes in the scope of the project to rehabilitate the Route 462 Veterans Memorial (Columbia-Wrightsville) Bridge spanning the Susquehanna River between Lancaster and York counties, updates have been made to the project website. The website updates were made to provide details regarding project redesign and anticipated schedule.

Additionally, interim repairs on the bridge are planned for this construction season, with an estimated start in April and completion in September of this year. The interim repairs are needed to fix bridge beams and strengthen select columns to avoid future degradation and a potential bridge closure. These repairs will not eliminate the 10-ton weight restriction currently in place on the bridge. This restriction will remain in place until a future and more extensive bridge repair project is completed. A press release will be issued in advance of the start of the interim repairs.

A major bridge rehabilitation project was originally scheduled to be bid for construction in December 2023. However, during a routine bi-annual bridge inspection in June 2023, signi_fi_cant de_fi_ciencies were identi_fi_ed in multiple primary load-bearing members across the bridge.

Based on this new inspection information, PennDOT subsequently posted a 10-ton weight restriction on the bridge and changed the overall project schedule and approach. Work is advancing in two phases: interim repairs and long-term, permanent repairs.

The interim bridge repair project was bid in February 2024. CriLon Corp. of Somerset was awarded a $910,780 contract to perform the repairs.

PennDOT is revising the scope of the long-term repair project to include more extensive rehabilitation work. The project is delayed until additional engineering and environmental evaluation studies can be completed. To learn more about the project, its history and the future rehabilitation, visit http://www.penndot.gov/ColumbiaWrightsvilleBridge and look under Resources.

PennDOT will announce additional public input sessions for the long-term bridge rehabilitation project this spring or summer. The bridge rehabilitation project is anticipated to begin in winter or spring of 2027 subject to all approvals, environmental clearances, and funding availability.

Project updates, including information about the upcoming interim repairs, are now available at http://www.penndot.gov/ColumbiaWrightsvilleBridge.