Tait Road Bridge located in Coolspring Township in Mercer County was deteriorating rapidly and in need of improvements to keep the community safe when traveling over the bridge. The original bridge was installed in 1966. This bridge is heavily traveled due to the proximity of the Mercer County courthouse. On average, roughly 300 travelers a day cross this bridge and it’s estimated this number will increase to around 400 travelers daily in the near future.

Tait road bridge is a local county bridge that needed improvements to get the bridge up to current code. In February 2023 the county commissioners choose Horizon Construction group in Seneca, PA as the contractor. Quality Bridge and Fab in Middlesex, PA was awarded to fabricate the short span bridge. The bridge is a short span bridge at 85’ in length with (8) galvanized girders, guardrail, and galvanized decking.

After looking at all their options of different types of bridges, the county decided to purchase a steel bridge that was hot-dip galvanized. Time was a critical factor in choosing the material to use in the bridge replacement. The reason for the county’s choice to specify a hot-dip galvanized short span steel bridge was the availability of the steel and stress of the timeframe that the county was under to replace the bridge. Hot-dip galvanizing was chosen because of the corrosion protection offered by the coating, due to the proximity of Otter Creek, a corrosive environment. The choice to utilize hot-dip galvanizing gave the county a solution for long term durability and protection from corrosion of the bridge.