Here’s what I don’t get — and maybe I speak for a lot of us in Greater Pittston.
Baltimore’s 1.6-mile Francis Scott Key Bridge went down tragically when a cargo ship ramped into a pier crippling the freight waterway for months on end and losing six lives as well.
The one-year anniversary of that sad night was just noted this past week.
Granted, Baltimore Harbor is a very important waterway and taking down the rest of the bridge and building another one is something that should be expedited.
The cost of the project, which will be a cable-stayed bridge, will be taller and protected better against ship strikes, will cost $1.7 billion.
Here’s the part that gets me, they plan on completing the project by 2028 — a mere three years from now.
We’ve had the Firefighter’s Bridge down for four years now, and the projected date of 2030 will have both the Firefighter’s and SPC Dale Kridlo Memorial Bridge completed.
I understand the logistics behind what faces our bridges to be replaced, but I’m sure replacing the Francis Scott Key Bridge has a fair share of issues to face as well.
And now, the Kridlo Bridge needs some shoring up to get it through the next few years before it will be removed for a new span.
Periodically, the Kridlo Bridge construction has traffic tied up a bit and that’s pretty tough at times. It took me over 15 minutes to go from Wyoming Avenue, West Pittston, to cross into Pittston.
So, on those days of top deck construction, just be aware of the delays. It seems most of the work is under the span with traffic down to one lane on Kennedy Blvd. traveling under the bridge.
Some people try to avoid all the traffic jams from three arteries trying to converge onto the bridge by driving to Wyoming to cross the 8th Street Bridge. You have traffic coming from Exeter Avenue (Rt. 92), Wyoming Avenue (Rt. 11), and Susquehanna Avenue on the west side while you have traffic in both directions on Main Street, Pittston, to get to the west side.
Plans are moving forward to put up traffic lights off the Kridlo Bridge on the West Pittston side. I’m not sure how that will work when there is construction on the bridge.
The traffic light pattern will be nothing short of genus to keep traffic moving smoothly from both sides of the river.
I think with all that’s going on with the Kridlo Bridge, it just gives us a peek into how things may transpire as we get closer to removing then constructing a new bridge at Water St. and then the demolition of the Kridlo Bridge.
Luzerne Avenue in West Pittston was always pretty busy when the Firefighter’s Bridge was in use and crossing the street at Agolino’s Restaurant to get to the parking lot was a bit challenging at times, but when the new bridge will be built the Kridlo Bridge will be closed for it’s replacing, Luzerne Avenue will have traffic like never before.
It’s still hard to believe we have to wait five more years before both bridges will be replaced, especially knowing the Francis Scott Key Bridge, a 1.6-mile span, would have been completed a full two years before our bridges.
In a day an age where things happen in nanoseconds, waiting nine years before the Firefighter’s Bridge to be replace seems crazy.
One saving grace in all of this is, the Kridlo Bridge will have construction started on the east side of the river before the entire span is demolished. Connecting the east side with the west side may not seem so agonizing long.
I, like you, are just anxious to have to fully functional bridges in use.
Knocking down bridges, building bridges will be historical. I’ve never known any other structures at first, the Water Street Bridge and the Fort Jenkins Bridge, and now the Firefighter’s and Kridlo Bridges.
The new bridges should last 100 more years so our children and their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren will be utilizing them until 2130. Wait, I think I just blew my own mind when I typed 2130.
Maybe by 2130 we won’t need bridges; maybe we will have flying cars or transportation like on the TV show Star Trek.
I wonder when our two bridges were being built in the early 1900s if people believed cars and trucks would still be the mode of transportation? Things that make you go hmmm.
This week coming is one I never look forward to; it’s the anniversary week of me losing my parents. My mom’s anniversary is April 2, 2016 and my dad’s anniversary is April 4, 1996.
Losing my mom seems like yesterday and it’s hard to believe 2026 will be her 10th anniversary and nothing having a father for nearly 30 years in unacceptable, but it’s life.
Both parents were good people and I learned a lot from both. My dad taught me to be kind and helpful to everyone. He had a great work ethic have worked from his early teenage days until he was stricken with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in his early 50s.
I miss them dearly and wish they were here today, which would still not be long enough.
Quote of the Week
“In a hundred years, when artificial intelligence and biotechnology have redefined human life, our grandchildren will look back and wonder how we ever lived without them.” —Yuval Noah Harari
Thought of the Week
“A century from now, the biological and the digital will merge, making it impossible to distinguish between human and machine.” —Ray Kurzweil
Bumper Sticker
“The only thing we know about the future is that it will be different.” —Peter F. Drucker
