The West Elm Street Bridge has been closed for about a year now. PennDot issued a press release announcing it will reopen sometime in the afternoon on Tuesday, December 24th. Here is the release. Conshohocken and Connaughtown are finally reunited. Here is the press release:

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) today announced that it will open the new Elm Street Bridge over Plymouth Creek and the Cross County Bicycle Trail in Conshohocken Borough, Montgomery County, tomorrow afternoon (Dec. 24).

“We are excited to reopen Elm Street and to provide our customers with a safe, modern bridge that will serve their transportation needs for decades to come,” PennDOT District Executive Lester C. Toaso said.

Over the past year, crews built the new span by removing and replacing the bridge’s deck, beams and center pier. Crews also constructed a retaining wall along the bike path. The project also included drainage improvements.

Construction began in December 2012 to replace the former structurally-deficient bridge with a new structure, which is a composite prestressed spread box beam bridge with a reinforced concrete deck. The old bridge was built in 1924. The previous two-span, concrete beam bridge was 149 feet long and 27 feet wide. It carried 6,877 vehicles a day prior to its closing.

Clearwater Construction, Inc., of Mercer, Pa., was the general contractor on the $3,144,000 project that was financed with 80 percent federal and 20 percent state funds.