NEW HOPE, PA – The New Hope-Lambertville Toll-Supported Bridge is expected to reopen to pedestrian crossing before nightfall today and to Pennsylvania-bound traffic around mid-day tomorrow (Thursday, January 23), the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission announced today.
The bridge’s partial reopening is occurring four to five days ahead of schedule. A two-week-long shutdown of the bridge to all vehicular traffic and pedestrian crossings began January 13 and had been expected to remain in place until Monday, January 27.
The bridge closure was needed so workers and engineers could remove and replace a severely deteriorated structural connection on the 120-year-old steel-truss structure. The key piece was a worn-out 4-inch-diameter, 18-inch-long cylindrical steel component that connected a critical joint of 13 structural steel members on the bridge’s second span from the Pennsylvania side. That steel component – called a pin – was replaced late last week.
Despite the recent cold weather, the bridge remains on track to open to two-way traffic sometime in mid-February.