COUDERSPORT BRIDGE CLOSING MONDAY
Major detour as a result of Mike Franklin Bridge replacement

Temporary traffic lights have been hung to control detour traffic in Coudersport Borough.

Impact of Monday's bridge closing in downtown Coudersport may not be obvious to many people until the barricades and detour signs go up.

PennDOT has set Monday as its tentative start date for replacement of the Specialist Mike Franklin Memorial Bridge, which carries U.S. Rt. 6 over the Allegheny River on East Second Street.

All traffic that would normally pass through the business district westbound on Rt. 6 will be re-routed off from East Second Street via a left turn near the Coudersport Consistory onto Mill Street.

Traffic will be detoured over the Mill Street Bridge and up a block to Oak Street, where it will turn right and rejoin Rt. 6 at the South Main Street intersection, across from the former Adelphia Operations Building.

Eastbound Rt. 6 traffic will be directed onto Maple Street near the McDonald's restaurant and St. Eulalia Catholic Church. It will travel up the hill to Mill Street, then turn left and go downhill to the Mill Street intersection with Rt. 6 (East Second Street).

Route 6 traffic will be routed through the heart of a Coudersport residential area when work begins on the Franklin Bridge.

Most of Maple Street and Oak Street will become oneway, while Mill Street will carry two-way traffic diverted from Rt. 6.

A. L. Blades & Sons Inc. of Hornell, N.Y., has widened curbs and made other arrangements to accommodate tractor-trailers and other vehicles through that residential section of the borough.

Detours will remain in effect for an estimated five months.

A walkway will be constructed so that pedestrians can cross the Allegheny River at the construction site.

The new bridge will carry the same name as the current structure. It was dedicated last October to Specialist Michael Franklin, a Coudersport native who was killed by an improvised explosive device in 2005 while serving in Iraq.

PennDOT is replacing the two-span, 98-foot bridge built in 1930 with a one-span, 65-foot concrete bridge. The project also includes abutment work, paving, water line relocation, drainage, and inlet and retaining wall work.