The long-awaited construction of a new Coplay-Northampton Bridge spanning the Lehigh River is now in sight. Bids for the project will be opened later this month, Rick Molchany, Lehigh County director of general services, informed The Press recently.

Construction for the new bridge should begin in March 2017, Molchany reported. The work involves the demolition of the present bridge connecting the boroughs of Coplay at Chestnut and Front streets and Northampton at Ninth and Main streets.

Molchany said after the bids are opened and reviewed and a contract is awarded - a period taking 90 days - the schedule puts the project to begin in March.

The construction is a two-year cycle, and if everything goes as scheduled, the opening for the new bridge will be March 2019.

Molchany said he does not expect some of the matters that were involved with the construction of the Hokendauqua-North Catasauqua Bridge should be involved with this new bridge. There were several issues at the bridge downstream that set its opening months behind its targeted opening.

There will be no need to take any private properties for the construction of this new span, but there will be temporary right-of-ways for the construction and equipment.

Detours will involve traffic diverted to the Hokendauqua-North Catasauqua Bridge and the Cementon-Northampton Bridge. Not only will motorists be impacted, but also businesses in both Coplay and Northampton.

The new Coplay-Northampton Bridge was to be built ahead of the Hokendauqua-North Catasauqua Bridge, but inspection found the Hokendauqua-North Catasauqua Bridge in further deteriorating condition than the Coplay-Northampton Bridge.

The present Coplay-Northampton Bridge was erected in the early 1930s, replacing a wooden bridge between the two boroughs.