The firm, which has an office in Allentown, will perform preliminary engineering, final design and construction services for the rehabilitation of five PennDOT-owned stone masonry arch bridges.

Three of the bridges are located in Lehigh County and two in Northampton County. The locations include Main Street over Trout Creek in Emerald, Main Street over the tributary to Trout Creek, Maple Drive over Bertsch Creek in Slate Valley, Third Street over Bushkill Creek in Easton at the base of Lafayette College, and the fifth bridge is over a tributary to Saucon Creek in Coopersburg.

While PennDOT budgeted $5 million for the project, Borton-Lawson has not been awarded a final contract yet.

The firm will do the design work so PennDOT can hand off the work to a contractor.

"Depending on what the scope of the project is, that will determine the final contract cost," said Ken McClain, area manager for Borton-Lawson's Lehigh Valley office.

"These are all rehabs of stone arches," said James McGee, assistant district executive for design for PennDOT District 5.

"There will be various contracts coming out. It all depends on how fast they can design the various projects."

Key principles will be implemented to produce the best long-term rehabilitation results, which will include repairing deteriorated stone masonry, replacing expansive fill over the arches, upgrading bridge parapets and installing scour protection along the footings.