NEW HOPE, PA – The contractor for a 10-month-long rehabilitation project at the New Hope-Lambertville Toll-Supported Bridge (the “free bridge”) has submitted a construction schedule and a project-phasing plan that would enable uninterrupted pedestrian travel across the bridge for the project’s duration, the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission announced today.
The contractor’s plan also ensures continuous Pennsylvania-bound vehicular crossings at the bridge. The Commission wanted project work sequenced in a manner that would prevent the free bridge’s Pennsylvania-bound commuters from being forced to use the nearby New Hope-Lambertville (Route 202) Toll Bridge, which is tolled in the Pennsylvania-bound direction.
New Jersey-bound vehicular travel at the free bridge, however, will now be subject to a continuous eight-month long detour to the nearby toll bridge, which is un-tolled in the Route 202-northbound direction for travel into New Jersey. The New Jersey-bound detour is expected to start on or about January 29 and continue without interruption through September.
Downloadable revised staging and scheduling graphics can be found at the bottom of this post.
The revised set of travel impacts for the bridge project was recently submitted to the Commission by the project contractor, Anselmi & DeCicco, Inc. of Maplewood, N.J. Anselmi & DeCicco has prior experience in carrying out projects with pedestrian impacts in the New York City-North Jersey metropolitan area and has developed a plan to re-sequence the project’s work stages and their associated travel impacts.
The Commission considers the Anselmi & DeCicco plan to be an improved project-execution approach because it mitigates potential risks – notably supply-chain and winter-weather impacts – under the original project staging plan released to the public last summer.
Accordingly, the Commission is working with Anselmi & DeCicco to proceed with its revised construction schedule and project-phasing plans. The broad outline of the changes is as follows:
Pre-Construction
As previously announced, the contractor has begun mobilizing equipment and materials at a secure location roughly one mile away from the bridge. The pre-construction activities are now expected to end on or about January 29.
Stage 1
- Anticipated duration: late-January to May
- Start of travel impacts: on or about January 29
- Travel impacts:
- Bridge walkway open.
- Pennsylvania-bound traffic can cross the bridge, but this westbound direction of traffic will be shifted to the bridge’s downstream side at the structure’s New Jersey approach.
- An uninterrupted New Jersey-bound traffic detour takes effect. This travel restriction shall remain in place for eight months. Eastbound traffic will be blocked at the intersection of Bridge and Main streets in New Hope. Begin-detour signage at this intersection and at the intersection of West Bridge Street and Route 202 to the west will direct affected New Jersey-bound motorists to the New Hope-Lambertville Toll Bridge and Route 202 northbound, which is toll-free for travel into New Jersey. The full detour route continues to the intersection of Main Street/Route 29 and Bridge Street/Route 179 in Lambertville. (CLICK HERE TO VIEW DETOUR MAP)
- Confined work area: upstream side of the bridge truss
- Major work activities: installation of containment/work platform below the bridge; scaffolding and painting containment on trusses, moving west to east; cleaning down to bare metal the bridge’s steel truss; applying a three-coat paint system; repairs; electrical and lighting work.
Stage 2
- Anticipated duration: May to July
- Start of new travel pattern: TBD/announcement in May
- Travel impacts:
- Bridge walkway remains open.
- Bridge remains open to Pennsylvania-bound vehicular traffic after being shifted back into its normal lane of travel on the bridge’s upstream side.
- New Jersey-bound traffic detour continues; eastbound traffic blocked at the intersection of Bridge and Main streets in New Hope with begin-detour signage at that location and the West Bridge Street/Route 202 intersection to the west. Detour extends across the New Hope-Lambertville Toll Bridge and Route 202 northbound, which is toll-free for travel into New Jersey.
- Confined work area: scaffolding and painting containment on center portions of the bridge trusses.
- Major work activities: cleaning down to bare metal the bridge’s overhead center truss sections followed by application of a three-coat paint system; repairs where warranted; electrical and lighting work where possible.
Stage 3
- Anticipated duration: July to September
- Start of new travel pattern: TBD/announcement in late June or early July
- Travel impacts:
- The bridge walkway is shut down. Pedestrian traffic will be moved to a six-foot-wide temporary walkway to be installed by the project contractor atop the bridge’s steel-grate roadway. This temporary facility’s mirrors the bridge’s pre-2004 walkway width – six feet. The temporary pedestrian crossing will be situated slightly upstream of the bridge’s downstream truss sections, providing space for containment and work activities on the bridge’s downstream trusses. The Commission also plans to provide a complimentary temporary free shuttle service 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily during this construction stage. The shuttle route and pickup/drop-off locations will be the same as what was announced in November. More information will be provided in advance of Stage 3’s start date.
- Bridge remains open to Pennsylvania-bound traffic in its usual upstream travel lane.
- New Jersey-bound traffic detour continues; eastbound traffic blocked at the intersection of Bridge and Main streets in New Hope with begin-detour signage at that location and the West Bridge Street/Route 202 intersection to the west. Detour extends across the New Hope-Lambertville Toll Bridge and Route 202 northbound, which is toll-free for travel into New Jersey.
- Confined work area: moving scaffolding and painting containment in work area along the bridge’s downstream trusses and accompanying walkway sections.
- Major work activities: removal of existing walkway panels and accompanying pedestrian railings; cleaning and painting of underlying cantilevered steel walkway supports; installation of new safer and quieter foam-core walkway panels; installation of new pedestrian railings; cleaning down to bare metal the bridge’s downstream steel truss sections followed by painting with a three-coat system; repairs where warranted; electrical and lighting work where possible.
Stage 4 – Punch List
- Anticipated duration: ending at an undetermined date in fall 2024
- Start of new travel pattern impacts: TBD/announcement in late September
- Travel impacts:
- New walkway open.
- Bridge’s two vehicular travel lanes open — one lane in each direction.
- Intermittent weekday alternating single-lane travel controlled by flaggers on an as-needed basis.
- Work areas: below the bridge’s roadway and with intermittent closed single lanes on the bridge’s roadway.
- Major work activities: completion of project tasks failing to meet Commission’s specifications; completion and testing of a new programmable color-changing LED lighting system to highlight the bridge’s architectural profile.
As with any public works project, the new plan and schedule for carrying out the New Hope-Lambertville Bridge rehabilitation project is subject to change due to unpredictable variables like emergencies, supply-chain issues, and severe weather and river conditions.
More information
Revised renderings of the travel patterns and work areas for Stage 1, Stage 2, and Stage 3 are attached to this press release. An up-to-date construction schedule also is attached.
The renderings and schedule also can be viewed online at the project webpage as follows:
- Stage 1 – click here
- Stage 2 – click here
- Stage 3 – click here
- Construction schedule – click here
The bridge’s detour for New Jersey-bound traffic is the same as previously announced, but its duration of implementation is changed. The detour map also may be viewed online by clicking here.
A project webpage was established in early 2023. It is updated periodically. It can be viewed at: drjtbc.org/project/newhopelambertville.
