McCauley Falls Bridge Reopens to Traffic

by Jonathan Weaver

The Armstrong County Commissioners were three of the first local residents to cross a replaced bridge Friday.

A new McCauley Falls Bridge connecting Boggs and Rayburn Townships was completed earlier this month by contractor Francis J. Palo Construction of Clarion and officially reopened for traffic.

Boggs Township Supervisor Alfred Kammerdiener has represented the municipality for 10 years, and said the bridge is used as a shortcut for motorists to get between different areas and for fishermen who use Pine Creek.

“This is a County bridge – Boggs (Township) is on one side and Rayburn (Township) is on the other side,” Kammerdiener said. “(Other than this one), we have four bridges in Boggs Township.”

Senate Engineering Inspector in Charge Sam Mahle signed off on the bridge opening and is close to a ceremonious landmark himself.

“I just went through the jobs since I started in 1964 and this (was) roughly the 49th bridge,” Mahle said. “I have quite a bit of experience, worked all over Western Pennsylvania: clear up to Erie, the five counties of (the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation) District 10 and all the counties in District 1.

“I like to go back and look on the jobs that I worked on years ago to see how they held up. My job is to see that the taxpayer gets their money’s worth, and to build a job that will last, have very little maintenance down-the-line.”

Since the bridge was more than 100 years old, Mahle said the bridge was hard to inspect and that he had to use x-rays to see into the bolt and look at bridge rust.

Mahle praised Palo’s crew, including Francis J. Palo Superintendent Michael Brownlee.

Brownlee said the bridge was not an unusual project for the crew of five employees. It was the first one-lane bridge that Brownlee ever built.

“It was time to be changed. It had old stone abutments and open steel grate,” Brownlee said.

Mahle explained these type of truss bridges – a pony truss, meaning the sides of the bridge extend above the road but are not connected - aren’t built often anymore, either.

“We don’t build truss bridges very often anymore. The reason they were built originally was because they would come out in pieces and be riveted together,” Mahle said. “But, now we have larger equipment so we can handle the big stuff.”

During construction, the road was blocked off for 300 feet in either direction to accommodate local homeowners.

The new bridge was built at a $716,000 cost. It was designed by Senate Engineering – which has a Kittanning office – and constructed by Francis J. Palo of Clarion, Pa. The single span, pre-stressed concrete beam replaces a single span thru tress that was built more than 100 years ago.

It no longer has the 7,500-pound weight restriction.

Construction began in June.

The bridge – which is expected to last for another century - has a stop sign on both ends and a 15 mile per hour speed limit.

“You could basically take a military tank across that bridge if you wanted to,” Mahle said.

The bridge was dedicated to a former McAuley Falls Road property owner.

The roadway on the Rayburn Township side permits ATV traffic.