Pennsylvania Act 2010-103 — SENATOR JIM RHOADES MEMORIAL BRIDGE - DESIGNATION

Act text

SENATOR JIM RHOADES MEMORIAL BRIDGE - DESIGNATION
                 Act of Nov. 18, 2010, P.L. 994, No. 103              Cl. 87
                                  AN ACT

     Designating the State Street (SR4028) Bridge over the Schuylkill
        River in Hamburg Borough and Tilden Township, Berks County,
        as the Senator Jim Rhoades Memorial Bridge.

        The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
     hereby enacts as follows:

     Section 1.  Senator Jim Rhoades Memorial Bridge.
        (a)  Findings.--The General Assembly finds and declares as
     follows:
            (1)  James J. Rhoades was a Republican member of the
        Pennsylvania Senate who represented the 29th Senatorial
        District from 1980 until his untimely death on October 18,
        2008, at the age of 66. At the time of his death, he was
        running for his eighth term in the Senate.
            (2)  Born December 5, 1941, in Waterbury, Connecticut,
        Rhoades graduated from East Stroudsburg University of
        Pennsylvania in 1964 with a bachelor's degree in education
        and later earned a master's degree in education from Lehigh
        University in 1966.
            (3)  Rhoades began his professional career as a teacher
        and football coach at the Pottsville and Mahanoy City high
        schools. After seven years of teaching, Rhoades was appointed
        as the principal of the Mahanoy Area Middle School. He served
        as principal for ten years before his election to the
        Pennsylvania Senate.
            (4)  As a former educator, Rhoades had an interest in
        education issues and ultimately became chairman of the
        Education Committee of the Senate. As chairman of that
        committee, Rhoades had influence over almost all education
        policy, including policy initiatives that led to the
        Pennsylvania Safe Schools Act and the Head Start Supplemental
        Assistance Program.
            (5)  Rhoades also served on the Appropriations,
        Transportation, Law and Justice, and Environmental Resources
        and Energy committees.
            (6)  Rhoades died at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown
        a day after being injured in an automobile accident near
        Brodheadsville, Pennsylvania, in Monroe County.
        (b)  Designation.--The State Street (SR4028) Bridge over the
     Schuylkill River in Hamburg Borough and Tilden Township, Berks
     County, is designated as the Senator Jim Rhoades Memorial
     Bridge.
        (c)  Signs.--The Department of Transportation shall erect and
     maintain appropriate signs displaying the name of the bridge to
     traffic in both directions.
     Section 2.  Effective date.
        This act shall take effect in 60 days.