Historic pieces of Salina Bridge to be donated to Bell Township Historical Society

Pieces of the historic Salina Bridge in Kiski and Bell townships will remain in the community even after the existing bridge is torn down, according to community members and PennDOT officials.

The Salina Bridge project has been a topic of state and community discussion since 2018, when PennDOT announced the Salina Bridge Rehabilitation project.

Since then, PennDOT’s goal has shifted from rehabilitation to replacement, which means the existing bridge will be torn down and a new one will go up about 100 feet away.

Plans outlining the timeline for deconstruction, waste management and the eventual reconstruction of the bridge were released May 31, but information regarding what would happen to the existing bridge was limited.

Keith Henrich, historic preservation specialist for PennDOT, said PennDOT prioritizes the historical integrity of the bridge.

Officials began with an attempt to auction off the bridge to interested contractors or community members.

PennDOT, however, was unable to find an interested third party to buy the bridge.

Henrich said a sticking point is the third party becomes responsible for maintaining the bridge while it’s still in use.

“They must take on the ownership and liability,” Henrich said.

Often, such groups do not have the financial means to maintain the structural and historic integrity.

“Most parties buy bridges to maintain them, not to tear them down,” Henrich said.

With no one to claim the existing Salina Bridge, PennDOT decided to donate five of the bridge’s pieces to the Bell Township Historical Society.

The pieces consist of parts of the bridge that have a “maker’s mark” on them and a piece that showcases a dated plaque and an acknowledgement of the Act of 1896 that facilitated the original bridge’s construction.

Maker’s marks usually consist of the name and, sometimes, the logo of companies that contributed to building the bridge.

The contributing makers of the Salina Bridge are Cambria Ironworks, Carnegie Steel Corp., Bethlehem Steel, and Jones and Laughlin Steel Corp.

Steve Nelson, president of the Bell Township Historical Society, said while they will own the maker’s marks, they plan to give the pieces to the Salina Inn for display.

The Salina Inn at 378 Larimer Road is more than 150 years old and offers a great view of the Kiski River and Salina Bridge.

Nelson’s hope is that people will see the bridge pieces from the Roaring Run Trail, which runs along the Armstrong County side of the Kiski River, and be encouraged to visit the inn.

“Hopefully, people that use the trail will see it,” Nelson said.

Owners Crystal and Shane Lantz, who have been running the inn for the past three years, said they have been following the project’s development for a while.

They have no plans for a display yet but are looking to hire a designer to determine where the pieces should sit outside their building.

In addition to donating the pieces, PennDOT is offering a state and federally funded monetary contribution to the Historic Metal Truss Bridge Capital Rehabilitation Program fund to mitigate the loss of historical property.

The fund is a PennDOT program set to last for 10 years. It will receive contributions of $1 million in 2023 and 2024, followed by $2 million payments each year from 2025 to 2032 for a total of $18 million.

Federal Surface Transportation Program and discretionary funding are also added into the fund, which was created with the intention of repurposing more bridges like the Salina Bridge.

As for the leftover pieces of the bridge, PennDOT said excess material likely will be disposed of by the contractor who heads the deconstruction process.

According to the National Park Service’s Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation, federal agencies are required to consider the effects of their projects on historical resources.

If there is adverse effect, it diminishes the qualified properties for listing in the national register.