The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation recently lowered the posted weight restriction on the Route 329/Cementon Bridge from 37 tons (40 tons for combinations) to 31 tons (37 tons for combinations).

The bridge traverses the Lehigh River between Whitehall Township, Lehigh County, and Northampton Borough, Northampton County.

"For the safety of the motoring public, our engineers are immediately implementing this new weight restriction," District Executive Michael W. Rebert said.

"We hope to make repairs to the bridge soon, but ultimately this bridge needs to be replaced to have no posted weight restrictions," Rebert said. "We currently don't have the resources to do that. If [state] Gov. [Tom] Corbett's transportation funding plan is passed, the state will be able to make investments like this that are so important to keeping our communities moving."

A recent inspection of the bridge showed significant deterioration to several of the floor beams. The new weight restriction will remain in place until emergency repairs are scheduled to restore the weight restriction to 37 tons. For now, vehicles weighing more than 31 tons or combinations weighing more than 37 tons must seek an alternate route.

The Cementon Bridge is a through truss bridge built in 1932. It is 575 feet long and 22 feet wide. Repairs were made to the truss in October 2009. This area of Route 329 has an average daily traffic of 16,477 vehicles.