Flood damage to state roads and bridges in a six-county area of northcentral Pennsylvania, including Lycoming, will cost $40 million to repair, according to the state Department of Transportation.
Almost 1,700 state roads and bridges were damaged in Lycoming, Bradford, Sullivan, Columbia, Northumberland and Montour counties as well as a small, isolated section of Tioga County, Rick Mason, PennDOT spokesman, said.
"It's six and a fraction," Mason said.
Throughout the region, eight bridges were destroyed and 400 bridges were damaged. About 12 miles of roadway will need to be reconstructed, Mason said.
In mid-October, PennDOT will bid a contract to restore Route 87 in Loyalsockville. In early October, two contracts will be bid on Wallis Run Road. One contract will address the area between Yeagle Road and Butternut Grove. The other contract will address the washed-out section closest to Route 973 at Slabtown.
In Bradford County, temporary bridges will be bid in early November for Traffic Route 87.
In Sullivan County, multiple contracts will be bid this month and next.
Those are among the emergency contracts the district will advertise for 200 sites this month.
Since mid-September, the district executed contracts for 66 damaged sites. Of those 66, repairs were completed on 20, Mason said..
"Our top priority is flood recovery," Mason said. "We want to get as many repairs done as possible before winter sets in. Our goal is to get as much done in as short a time frame as possible, which is a Herculean effort."
Mason said many PennDOT employees have been working six days a week for flood recovery.
Two contracts were bid in Bradford County where work now is under way. On Route 6, a crew will restore pavement sections at four sites and on Route 414, a crew will restore several pavement sections.
Later this week, PennDOT will open bids on emergency contracts to address major flood damage from Hurricane Irene in Sullivan County. Separate contracts will include construction of a new Route 487 bridge over Loyalsock Creek at Lopez and flood repairs on routes 87 and 154 in the county.
