PHILADELPHIA, Pa. (October 1, 2014) –- Traffic on the Reedy Point Bridge will be reduced to one lane beginning Oct. 6 to facilitate the final steel repairs and painting on the bridge, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Philadelphia District announced today.
The Corps expects the one-lane restriction to remain in effect until approximately Dec. 1.
During that period traffic will be controlled by portable traffic signals at each end of the lane that remains open.
The Army Corps’ contractor on the project, Corcon Construction, of Lowellville, Ohio, will endeavor to maintain the shortest possible zone of lane closure, primarily on the main span of the bridge.
The completion date is approximate at this point because of the uncertainty of weather conditions.
The Reedy Point Bridge is a cantilever truss bridge that carries two lanes of Delaware Route 9 over the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal. The Army Corps began repair work on the bridge in April 2012. It originally planned to close both lanes of the bridge in order to expedite construction but agreed to keep at least one lane open most of the time in response to community concerns.
The Philadelphia District of the Army Corps maintains the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal, which connects the Delaware River to the Chesapeake Bay. Additionally, the District maintains and operates five high-level highway crossings (Chesapeake City Bridge, Summit Bridge, the SR-1 or Sen. William Roth Bridge, St. George’s Bridge and Reedy Point Bridge) and one street bridge in Delaware City.
Major repairs on the Reedy Point Bridge were last done in 1999 when $888,000 was spent on miscellaneous steel work. In 1995, $2.5 million was spent on anchor and deck span repairs and painting. The current contract with Corcon is for $8 million.
The bridge was originally constructed in 1969.
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Release no. 14-022