BELVIDERE, NJ – Pedestrian access across the Riverton-Belvidere Toll-Supported Bridge’s walkway has been restored for the Labor Day holiday weekend, the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission announced today.
Access to the bridge walkway on the bridge’s Pennsylvania side, however, is restricted to a temporary two-foot-wide sidewalk cordoned with plywood and flexible fencing. Due to the narrowness, passage through that temporary facility is limited to one person at a time.
The bridge walkway was shut down in mid-July because the approach sidewalk on the bridge’s Pennsylvania side rested on a stone-masonry retaining wall that was bulging to the point of becoming unstable and potentially dangerous. The retaining wall supports the approach roadway leading to and from the bridge. It’s unclear how old the wall’s stone-masonry portions are, but it’s possible they date back to the first wooden bridge that opened at this location in 1836.
A series of repairs to the retaining wall have since advanced to the point where a temporary sidewalk surface could be opened this morning.
The repairs on the bridge’s upstream wingwall required removal of the approach sidewalk’s steel safety railings and removal of some sidewalk sections. New concrete sidewalk sections are expected to be poured atop the wingwall sometime in September. A bridge walkway closure may be needed again to carry out that work.
Note: A toll-supported bridge is free for the public’s use, but the cost of operating and maintaining the bridge is funded by a portion of the tolls the Commission collects at its eight toll bridges.
