Goshen resident urges county to replace Brink Road bridge this year, support Mid‑County Highway

Robert Nelson, a Goshen resident and past chair of the Up‑County Citizens Advisory Board, told the Montgomery County Council the Brink Road bridge over Great Seneca Creek is “obsolete” and urged immediate replacement rather than further delay.

Nelson said the bridge is 54 years old, “only 23 feet wide,” and that county inspection reports show “bridge steel beams are in poor condition with areas of a % section loss.” He told the council more than 12,000 vehicles use the bridge daily and that the proposed detour during a multi‑month closure would be “nearly 8 miles long,” pushing traffic onto narrow rural roads ill‑suited to increased volumes. “This is unacceptable,” he said, adding that a nearby one‑lane bridge on Huntmaster Road would be overloaded if the proposed closure proceeds.

Nelson proposed moving the replacement slightly north to avoid closing the existing bridge during construction and to reconfigure a nearby Y‑intersection into a standard T‑intersection. He argued the relocation would avoid tree impacts; he cited a prior 25‑acre construction conversion that removed large trees from the Goshen Branch Stream Valley Park and said moving the bridge north would not affect trees. He also called for including completion of the Mid‑County Highway (referred to as M‑83) on the master‑planned route in the CIP for the Up‑County.

The testimony raised safety and traffic‑management questions and asked the council to prioritize the bridge work within current capital schedules. No council action or vote was recorded in the public hearing record.