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.