MONTOURSVILLE – PennDOT has announced more safety improvements for the Veteran’s Memorial Bridge, between Sunbury and Shamokin Dam.
Based on a safety study completed on the bridge in 2012, last year centerline stripes were painted on the bridge. Those improvements provide a greater distance between opposing directions of traffic. In 2016, a second safety project will include installation of a high skid resistant surface on the bridge and installation of centerline ‘delineators’ on the bridge.
PennDOT says the high skid resistant surface will allow for better maneuvering of vehicles and improved stopping distance. The centerline delineators will add a vertical element between opposing traffic to improve driver awareness of the centerline.
The construction won’t take place until spring 2016 and will require temporary traffic control measures impacting traffic flow on the bridge and delays are expected. The work comes after several bad head-on collisions on the bridge in recent years, including a crash, which killed 22-year-old Kirk Mahaffey of Northumberland and his 3-year-old son Mason, in July 2012. (Ali Stevens)