Lazy Pre-Halloween Weekend in New Hope

Lazy fall weekend in New Hope, PA (Photo copyright Charlie Sahner)

New Hope / Solbury School Administrators Keep Sending Buses Over Deteriorating Ferry Street Bridge

Look at the pictures, and decide for yourself if you want the New Hope-Solebury or Solebury School student in your family bussed over a bridge the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources says is "deteriorating" and in such "poor condition" that it needs to be completely replaced, but keeps at the same posted weight limit as when built 50 years ago -- 20 tons.

Two parallel roads, feet away, would cost no extra time or money to use, and provide a safe detour until work by the DCNR starts next year.  David Hansel, Director of Operations for NH-S Schools, determines which streets buses travel upon, and could change the route with a snap of his fingers, but won't.   His phone number 215-862-8183.

If the pictures concern you, ask the school administration if they visited the bridge and and can guarantee it's safe for your kids.  Superintendent Ray Bocutti's phone is 215-862-5372 ext. 6226, if you want to go to the top and he's not traveling. 

If you can, go take a look for yourself.  The open sidewalk isn't even safe anymore.

The engineers seem gagged, the State won't respond to the photos below, and the NH-S Administration has expressed no concern or interest so far over the level of risk to our children.

Decide for yourself.

Me?  I'm driving my kid to school for now.

School bus maneuvers around seemingly stunned and stopped car carrier on Ferry St. bridge in New Hope, PA.

One of two completely corroded supports beneath the wheels of the bus.

Broken roadbed. The PA DCNR admits the roadbed is "rusting".

Support, or lack thereof, under still-open sidewalk. The DCNR didn't know about this when asked.

Main supporting beam under school bus pictured above.

Another primary supporting beam.

Does deteriorating Ferry Street Bridge threaten New Hope and Solebury P.A. schoolchildren?

By Charlie Sahner

The State Department of Natural Resources and Conservation has decided to begin completely replacing New Hope's Ferry Street Bridge spanning the Delaware Canal in November of next year, and aims to finish sometime the following spring.

But if the bridge is deteriorating and needs to be replaced sooner than later as the DCNR claims, why hasn't the agency lowered the weight limit of 20 tons, established when the structure was in a much newer condition?

Wayne Nguyen, who is coordinating the bridge replacement project for the DCNR, acknowledges that there has been "some section loss" and that the "deterioration is probably on the deck itself."  While it's true, he says, that the main "beams of the bridge are rusted, there's not a lot of section loss."

When asked about the apparent corrosion of supports attached to the beams, Nguyen said, "The sidewalk has been closed.  We usually inspect every two to three years, but the engineers recommended that we inspect every year."

He said that inspectors from Raudenbush Engineering, Inc. examined the bridge this year and determined that the 20 ton limit was "okay."

When asked if it might be prudent to lower that limit or redirect some traffic, particularly school buses, one block in order to ensure the safety of schoolchildren, Nguyen replied "I'm not sure how much a school bus weighs; unless it weighs more than 20 tons, the bridge should be able to handle it."

In addition to large trucks and tour buses, buses from at least two area schools pass over the Ferry Street Bridge twice a day.

According to WikiAnswers, the "average, 38', 84 passenger school bus weighs in between 11 and 14 Tons (22,000 to 28,000 pounds) curb weight without passengers. When you add 84 passengers, say high school students, that can add up to 14,700 additional pounds in weight, bringing the total up to about 42,700 pounds."

Admittedly, some of the buses using the bridge may weigh less than the average figure quoted, and perhaps the images of a flaking, peeling and corroding bridge depicted above can be explained away by those with an engineering background, unlike this reporter.

But the question remains: are drivers and passengers, especially schoolchildren, being unnecessarily put at risk? 

Pair of young men clinging to barrel in Delaware River saved by hero kayakers

Area where duo rescued; clump of trees on R is where 2nd victim clung. (Photo provided by Jeff Vinsosky)

By Charlie Sahner

Police, fire and rescue vehicles including airboats were called out from New Hope, Solebury, Central Bucks, Lambertville at approximately 2:30 p.m. Sunday as two individuals were reported to be floating downstream on a blue barrel on the Delaware River near Stockton.  Police and rescue units took up staggered positions along the Pennsylvania side of the river and on the New Hope-Lambertville free bridge.

Meanwhile, on the raging brown river below, a life and death drama was being played out, according to Jeff Vinosky, 21, of Fairless Hills and Gary Lewis, 21, of Levittown, who say they spotted the barrel while kayaking on the adjacent Delaware and Raritan Canal.

Just as they entered the river near Prallsville Mills to assist the two men they had seen clinging to the barrel for life, one of those in trouble broke away from the improvised float and swam for a nearby strip of land in the river.

The apparent good samaritans said they were able to reach the first victim and guide him ashore to safey, but couldn't fight the roiling, post-flood waters and crosscurrents from a nearby stream to reach the second, who was by then clinging to a tree near the water's edge. They alerted rescue personnel, and an airboat appeared soon thereafter to secure that victim.

According to witnesses, the two individuals in trouble had toppled their canoe upriver.  One fan of the Facebook site "New Hope PA"  posted Sunday that he had seen two individuals "struggling" in a canoe near the Black Bass Hotel at 1:45 p.m.

Emergency personnel on both sides of the river have been mum on the incident, deferring questions to one another and the New Jersey State Police, who say they have no record of the incident.

This reporter's guess would be that since the two "barrel boys" didn't need transportation to a hospital, and since it's not illegal to canoe or ride in a blue plastic barrel immediately after near-flood level waters on the Delaware, no emergency officials felt like filing a comprehensive incident report on a Sunday afternoon.

Nor, apparently, in giving credit where it was also due.

Let's be clear.  The pair of young victims in the river, by all accounts, were exhausted, pale, uncommunicative and generally "shocky," having been immersed in very cold, fast-moving water for more than half an hour.  However poor their judgment was in attempting to preamble about on post-flood waters akin to the chocolate river in Willy Wonka studded with fast-moving logs, let's not blame the victims.

But let's celebrate the heroes:  Gary Lewis and Jeff Vinosky.  These two stuck to the safer canal near Stockton on their afternoon kayak run, but seeing two people clinging for life in the rushing Delaware was enough for them to paddle without thought into harm's way, grabbing one victim and handing him their life vest, and locating and getting help for the second.

These two should receive a public award.