PennDOT to Demolish 122-Year-Old Skinners Falls-Milanville Bridge Over Delaware River : CEG

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) began preparatory work Feb. 26, 2025, in rural Wayne County to demolish the deteriorated Skinners Falls-Milanville Bridge across the Delaware River to New York State.

After determining November 2024 that razing the span was the best option after years of repairs to the structure, PennDOT’s crews are starting site preparation and causeway construction at the long-closed bridge.

The National Park Service (NPS) issued a permit to PennDOT for the demolition in mid-February, removing one of the final hurdles to the project.

Although the calls have been loud and assertive from concerned private citizens and organizations impassioned to see the historic, 122-year-old bridge saved, what the Upper Delaware Valley may be hearing in coming weeks are the sounds of explosives to bring it down, reported the Tri-County Independent in nearby Honesdale, Pa.

PennDOT said that a controlled demolition is better than an uncontrolled collapse should the cracked New York abutment or slowly-breaking bridge spans finally give way, an extremely dangerous outcome should anyone be nearby or passing underneath it at the time.

The agency has been stressing the need to have the old Baltimore truss bridge removed prior to the unofficial start of the Delaware River’s recreation season on Memorial Day weekend, according to the Independent.

The Skinners Falls-Milanville Bridge is a 466-ft.-long structure that until October 2019 carried vehicles on Pa. Highway 1002/Calkins Road and Skinners Falls Road in Cochecton, N.Y., over a single wooden traffic lane.

After undergoing a series of traffic closures due to observed structural issues, followed by emergency repairs and re-openings, a driver’s complaint and subsequent PennDOT District Bridge Unit inspection that October, identified timber deck and lateral truss bracing deterioration, which led to the bridge being shuttered.

Another inspection this past October showed that the bridge superstructure was in a critical condition and the substructure had failed. PennDOT analyzed different options and determined “demolition was necessary to eliminate the risk to public safety.”

In January, engineers again examined the structure before confirming that the New York-side abutment and upstream truss bearing areas “are actively moving. It is necessary to remove the bridge as quickly as possible to prevent an uncontrolled collapse.”

Meanwhile, the Damascus Citizens for Sustainability (DCS), a grassroots organization based in Milanville, Pa., issued a press release on Feb. 21, 2025, concerning a letter of intent the group approved and sent to PennDOT in a last-ditch attempt to save the bridge.

The organization has support from a company that specializes in restoring deteriorated, antique truss bridges and presented its plan to PennDOT earlier in February.

In response, the state transportation department pointed out why the restoration plan would not work and advised that there was not enough time to pursue the option given the frailty of the bridge and its threat to public safety with warmer spring temperatures edging closer.

National Park Services Lays Out Several Conditions

The NPS review said that tearing down the Skinners Falls Bridge will not have huge impacts to the Delaware River’s wild and scenic qualities, but the federal agency did set out a series of conditions PennDOT must follow to preserve the river, the River Reporter in Narrowsburg, N.Y., just downstream from the span, said in an online article.

Destroying the structure will not degrade the “water quality, free-flowing condition, cultural, ecological, geological, recreational and scenic values” of the river, according to the NPS.

Many of the conditions involve preserving the river’s natural qualities.

For example, to ensure against the degradation of the Delaware River’s free-flowing nature, PennDOT must use “pre- and post-construction bathymetric surveys” to make sure it does not damage the river bed or riverbank. If any damage does occur, PennDOT must fix it.

The conditions also guard against negative effects to recreational use of the river.

The bridge demolition plan requires that the river be closed to traffic for approximately two months. However, the project timeframe — 76 days during the low-traffic winter and spring months — means it will not have significant impacts to recreation on the river, according to the NPS.

“The demolition and causeway removal must be completed by May 25, 2025, to avoid significant negative impacts to recreational use of the river during peak season,” the park service said, adding that if PennDOT follows the mitigation efforts outlined in the conditions set forth by the NPS, the project would not have permanent damage to the “cultural and scenic values” of the river corridor.

In addition, PennDOT must complete the process it started in 2019 of examining alternatives to the historic bridge at that site. NPS recommended that a “thoughtfully designed replacement bridge” could maintain the appeal of the old truss bridge and required that a replacement structure be “aesthetically consistent with the corridor.”

PennDOT engineers also must try to save as much of the stone as possible from the existing bridge to use for its replacement, the River Reporter noted in its Feb. 19 story.

During the last week of February, the contractor started moving equipment and materials to the New York State public river boating access parking lot on the immediate downstream side of the bridge.

“[On] February 26, work will begin on Skinners Falls W Road near the railroad crossing,” PennDOT added in its news release. “Minor improvements to the roadway grade are necessary to accommodate construction equipment. The road will be useable and remain open during construction.”