Perkasie Borough awards bids for South Perkasie Covered Bridge repairs
The repairs to Perkasie’s historical 1832 covered bridge have passed an important milestone as the Borough has selected the firms that will rehabilitate the bridge’s timber structure and abutments that were damaged by Hurricane Ida.
On September 22, 2025 contracts approved by Perkasie Borough Council were awarded to Eastern Highway Specialists Inc. of Wilmington, DE, for the timber structure and T. Schiefer Contractors, Inc. for the abutments. The awards are contingent upon Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) obligating final adjusted funds for the project. The contractors were selected in a competitive bidding process.
In recent years, Eastern Highway Specialists of Wilmington, DE, restored the Rapps Dam Covered Bridge, the Knox Covered Bridge in Valley Forge National Historic Park, and the Speakman's Covered Bridge in Chester County, and the Ashland Covered Bridge in Delaware. T. Schiefer Contractors, Inc. is a family-owned and operated construction business in Doylestown, PA.
“The Borough and our many project partners are looking forward to working with Eastern Highway Specialists and T. Schiefer Contractors in the efforts to rehabilitate the South Perkasie Covered Bridge in Lenape Park,” said Scott Bomboy, chair of the Perkasie Borough Council history committee. “We are also grateful to FEMA and PEMA for working with us to make sure environmental and historical concerns are addressed today, so future generations will enjoy the bridge as a showpiece in our park system.”
This year, Perkasie Borough applied for a project change with FEMA to move the covered bridge about 50 feet away from its current location, taking the bridge from the FEMA regulatory floodway. The covered bridge also will be elevated by several feet and secured by tie-down fixtures. The location change came after Perkasie Borough’s architectural and engineering consultant for the project, Wood Research & Development of Jefferson, OR, completed inspection reports and design plans, and the Borough’s engineers, Gilmore & Associates, Inc., evaluated FEMA flood maps for the bridge’s current location.
Once FEMA completes the adjusted obligation process based on the proposed location change, construction is expected to begin in early Spring 2026.
The South Perkasie Covered Bridge rehabilitation project began in 2019 when the Perkasie Historical Society, Bucks County Covered Bridge Society and Perkasie Borough raised funds to repair a known issue with the bridge. The Borough also received a Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Office grant for the project.
However, Hurricane Ida’s remnants swept the bridge off its abutments in September 2021, and FEMA designated Perkasie Borough as a recipient of FEMA and PEMA funds to return the bridge to its condition before the flood. The project’s costs will be covered by funds from FEMA, PEMA, the Pennsylvania State Historic Office, and donations to the Perkasie Historical Society, as well as the society’s funds.
The South Perkasie Covered Bridge is the oldest covered bridge in Bucks County and the seventh-oldest covered bridge in America. It was built in 1832 and moved by Perkasie’s citizens in 1958 to save it from demolition by Bucks County. The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, and it is a rare example of an early covered bridge using the original Town Lattice truss system.
