May 18 marked the official start of construction on the replacement of the old bridge carrying Watervale Road over Winters Run between Bel Air and Fallston, but the bridge isn't down yet and may still have another week to stand, maybe longer.
The original truss bridge, which had a wood planked deck that was removed several years ago, has been estimated by the county to be at least 100 years old.
According to county engineers, the Watervale bridge was the oldest in continuous use in the county highway system, when a temporary bridge was placed on top of it by the county in 2009 amid fears of a possible collapse of the original.
As the replacement project got under way last week, Harford County Public Works blocked off Watervale Road on the Fallston side of the bridge and Vale and Tollgate roads on the Bel Air side, leading to detours and, already, visibly more traffic on Carrs Mill and Vale roads in the morning and afternoon.
Construction equipment has been brought to the site, a trailer placed on Tollgate Road and the guardrails leading to the bridge have been taken down and piled up nearby.
But, save for a few portable barricades placed on the Fallston side, the bridge was still standing Monday afternoon.
The old bridge and its temporary span are scheduled to be removed on June 4, according to DPW Chief Engineer Jeff Stratmeyer, who cautioned that timetable may be a bit on the "optimistic" side.
The county estimates it will take seven months to build the new bridge, which won't look anything like its predecessor.
The project has a $2.9 million price tag, of which about 80 percent will be funded by the federal government, leaving the county's cost at approximately $575,000. The contractor is JJID Inc., of Bear, Del.
The project has taken nearly a decade to plan and design, as the county worked with neighbors to address their concerns about the appearance of and increased traffic from a new bridge.
A number of options were considered before the county engineers settled on a two-lane bridge with a low profile and parapets, or solid retaining walls on the sides, and no pilings in the stream out of fear they could be compromised by debris during flooding conditions.
During the planning process, it also was decided not to build a roundabout at the T-intersection where the bridge terminates at Tollgate and Vale roads on the Bel Air side of the stream because of the proximity of the floodplain and other environmental concerns.