Locals expecting the Hokendauqua-North Catasauqua Bridge to be razed by a big blast of dynamite will be disappointed.

Lehigh County Director of General Services Glenn Solt told The Press Monday the bridge will be dismantled "piece by piece."

"Soon," Solt commented when asked when the steel-grate bridge across the Lehigh River will be demolished.

He said HRI Contracting could soon release the schedule of the bridge demolition project.

Most likely, the large brick apartment building that sits at the base of Water Street in Darktown could be ripped down before the main bridge is demolished.

The structure served as a hotel decades ago.

There are three bridges involved in the project.

Referred to by Whitehall Mayor Edward D. Hozza Jr as "the tri-bridges," one of the smaller hump bridges on the Hokendauqua side on Lehigh Street is a former railroad bridge.

With bright orange detour signs seemingly just about everywhere throughout a two-mile radius, the Ironton Rail-Trail will also be impacted.

For about a two-block section approaching the bridge, bicyclists, walkers and joggers are diverted to Quarry Street before returning onto the trail.

Once completed, the trail will have a tunnel and a concrete culvert, on which the trail will be located at the new bridge site.

For the couple of dozen residential homes located on Water Street in Darktown, access and egress is on the south end, near Eberhart Road.

Hozza said should an emergency occur, the residents there would have to utilize the IRT to and from their homes.