Pequea Creek Bridge Removal

We go hiking every chance we get in southern Lancaster County, and have crossed this bridge across the Pequea Creek countless times. It's a one lane bridge built in 1912, and this week it's coming down. Here you can see the iron bridge in the foreground, the arched railroad bridge behind it, and the creek flowing into the Susquehanna River, with the Safe Harbor dam and power plant in the background.

It's a picturesque bridge in a beautiful setting, and I've always enjoyed the mild trepidation experienced when driving across it. Today I learned that in the State rating system of 100 points, this one rates a 1! It's going to be replaced with a modern structure, not as picturesque but undoubtedly safer.

These pictures were taken this past weekend, a few days before demolition began. Local residents decorated the span with flags and balloons:

I like the angles in this picture, and the patterns of the rust:

Here's the view looking down through the floor (roadbed? platform?) of the bridge at the creek. It gives one pause....

Yesterday, workers used a crane to pick up the entire structure and move it to a parking lot, where it can be disassembled more readily. The local newspaper has coverage of the event, with video, here.