By TOM RUE

SKINNERS FALLS -- Structural work on the 465-foot bridge spanning the Upper Delaware at Skinners Falls "should be" completed by this weekend, according to Joe Novak, project inspector for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT).

Novak added that he is awaiting final approval from his superiors before reopening the bridge.

New additions to the bridge are the corrugated steel guardrails on each side, with posts placed at six-foot intervals.

Sandblasting and painting of the upper truss portions of the bridge remain to be completed next spring. Asked whether this operation will require another bridge closing, Novak replied that he did not know. "They might leave it open and paint in and around traffic or something. It hasn't been decided," he said.