About six weeks ago, Rich and I took a photo walk around the town of Waverly. Thinking that Dalton might be an interesting photo spot too (it wasn’t), we took a circuitous route home, ending up on Route 438 just north of the produce stand at La Plume. Right at a sweeping bend to the left heading toward Route 438, we noticed a blocked off, abandoned road heading east. There were no “No Trespassing” signs and no homes nearby, so we put it on our list to come back and explore one day. That day was today.

In the meantime, we had checked out satellite imagery for the area and noticed the probable reason for the road closure: there appeared to have once been a bridge over the railroad tracks, and the bridge was now, apparently, gone.

We had to check it out in person. There was just a short stretch of road past the signs blocking vehicle access. The sun was in and out, and we had a few opportunities for wildflower photography, but not many. This also didn’t appear to be a very fruitful area for herping. (But there is plenty of poison ivy!)

The road abruptly ended at a pair of concrete barriers, and a large void beyond, with the railroad tracks about 20 feet lower than the road grade. There was a rather amusing sign reading HORSES - 10mph on the other side of the gorge through which the tracks run.

Based on the condition of the roadway, we both assumed that the bridge had fallen, or been demolished, decades ago (we weren’t yet aware of what had happened). When we researched this back at home, we learned that there was some controversy involved in the eventual demolition of the bridge.

Back in 2011, a 45 foot long piece of concrete detached from the parapet wall and fell onto the tracks below, and a large hole opened up on the north side of the bridge deck. A farmer on the east side of the bridge had been complaining about the deteriorating condition of the bridge for several years before the large piece fell. It affected his business (a horse farm) by blocking access to it, and also was a safety concern due to limited emergency vehicle access.

It was unknown whether the railway (Canadian Pacific) or PennDOT was responsible for upkeep of the bridge, so that matter went in front of a judge. The road was closed off in 2011, but the bridge remained in place.

In 2013, Pennsylvania’s Public Utility Commission got involved because that body has jurisdiction over rail highway crossings. The PUC upheld the judge’s decision that the railway was responsible for upkeep of the bridge.

The farmer was hopeful that the bridge would eventually be repaired or replaced, but it was not to be. The farmer sued Canadian Pacifc Railway, which had no comment as hearings were held in 2015. I wasn’t able to find anything specific about the details of that case, but the bridge was demolished in 2016.