The new Watervale Road bridge over Winters Run, between Bel Air and Fallston, opened to traffic on Tuesday, Harford County government announced.
The new span replaces the old single-lane, steel truss bridge that was dismantled beginning in May 2015 and was believed to be more than 100 years old.
JJID Inc., of Bear, Del., was the contractor on the $2.9 million replacement project, which took several months longer than expected because of a combination of weather-related days, a county spokesperson said earlier this spring.
In addition to the two-lane bridge, the project included construction of new retaining walls along both stream banks and new guardrails to the approaches on Watervale, Vale and Tollgate roads.
The T-intersection on the Bel Air side of the bridge remains; however, the sight lines have been improved in all directions. There is only one stop sign, for traffic crossing the bridge toward Bel Air. The stop signs from Tollgate and Vale roads are removed.
The original bridge, which had a wood-planked deck that was removed several years ago and replaced by a temporary portable bridge in 2009, was considered to be the oldest bridge in continuous use in the county road system.