LEWISBURG — After years of planning, the Red Bridge will be under renovation beginning this month.

It’s been nine years since traffic last crossed Union County’s historic covered bridge over Penns Creek near Millmont. It’s been more than six years, as the Union County commissioners recalled Wednesday, since officials began to look for ways to fund its restoration.

The holdup: It takes forever to negotiate for federal funding for projects like this, said commission Chairman Preston Boop. And, well, at a price tag of about $1.1 million, federal funding is necessary.

But with funding approved and contractors picked, the commissioners issued the order to proceed to the Minichi Contracting Group, of Dupont, the firm that won the contract after a bidding process.

If the weather is reasonably kind, the restoration will be completed by October 2010.

On Wednesday morning, the commissioners met with Marty Shamro, of Minichi, representatives of the state Department of Transportation, which will receive the federal money and disburse it, and representatives of Stahl Sheaffer Engineering, the firm that will inspect the construction. John Coukart, of Coukart & Associates, of New Berlin, which completed the design work, also was on hand to discuss contract procedures.

The Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission requires the work to maintain the historical integrity of the 1855 structure, said Jeffrey Sheaffer, structural engineer and principal of Stahl Sheaffer.

The bridge will be disassembled, beams and timbers cut to order and then reassembled to match the original, he said. Rotted timbers must be replaced by those that match them in their original condition,

The Red Bridge, in Hartley Township on Route 320, is Union County’s longest span at 154 feet, according to The Daily Item archives.

Officials expected the project to start earlier this year, but a February wind storm blew the roof off and more extensive work needed to be planned. It last was restored in 1958.

The Red Bridge also is one of the larger covered bridges in Pennsylvania. It is an example of the Burr Arch Truss, a design invented in 1804 by Theodore Burr, cousin of Vice President Aaron Burr.

According to Wikipedia, a Burr Arch Truss employs two long arches, resting on the abutments on either end, typically sandwiching a multiple kingpost structure. Between 1811 and 1818, Burr designed, then constructed or supervised five crossings of the Susquehanna River. For a time, Burr was the most distinguished architect of bridges in the country.