FRENCHTOWN, N.J. – Two late-June open house sessions are scheduled to provide the public with information about construction activities, travel restrictions, and other aspects of a planned 2025 rehabilitation of the 92-year-old Uhlerstown-Frenchtown Toll-Supported Bridge, the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission announced today.
The locations, dates, and times for the open houses are:
| TINICUM, PA.
Delaware Valley Volunteer Fire Company |
FRENCHTOWN, N.J.
Frenchtown American Legion Post 113 |
The open houses will consist of viewing stations where the public may speak with members of the project design/engineering team, ask questions, and provide comment on the project. The sessions will feature visual displays of general existing conditions, planned major project tasks, the current anticipated project schedule, anticipated travel restrictions and detours, the sequencing of work stages, and information about a programmable LED lighting system that would highlight the bridge’s architectural profile.
Following the open houses, the displayed materials will be added to a project-specific webpage — http://www.drjtbc.org/project/frenchtownbridge — the Commission recently established on its website. Individuals unable to attend the open house sessions could then view the materials and relay concerns or questions during a two-week-long public comment period scheduled to end 4 p.m. July 12. Once the open house/public comment process is completed, project planning will proceed to final design.
The bridge rehabilitation is expected to include the following major tasks:
- Repair various pieces of the bridge’s steel superstructure;
- Clean and repaint the bridge’s steel superstructure and underlying bearings;
- Repairs to the bridge’s abutments, piers, and retaining walls; and
- Install a programmable LED lighting system to highlight the bridge’s architectural profile at night along the river. This would be the third Commission bridge to be outfitted with such a lighting system.
The planned rehabilitation is intended to put the bridge in a good state of condition and extend its service life so it will not need a major rehabilitation for another 15 years. The bridge’s current steel superstructure opened to traffic on October 10, 1931. It was last rehabilitated in 2001. The bridge links the Borough of Frenchtown in Hunterdon County, N.J. with the Uhlerstown section of Tinicum Township in Bucks County, PA.
The Commission in January awarded a $1.77 million contract with the engineering firm WSP USA to design the bridge’s rehabilitation project. A significant aspect of WSP’s work entails the sequencing of the rehabilitation’s tasks and identifying the range of travel impacts that may be necessary to carry out construction activities in 2025.
WSP is expected to complete final design work in the fall. Project construction could then be advertised for competitive bids and a contract award by the start of 2025. Project construction would then begin in early 2025 and reach completion later in the year.
The Uhlerstown-Frenchtown Toll-Supported Bridge is a six-span riveted steel Warren truss structure that was constructed in 1931. The bridge’s wooden road deck was replaced with a steel open-grate deck in 1949. The bridge is narrow, with a clear roadway width of 16-feet 6-inches curb to curb. A concrete-filled steel grating sidewalk is supported by the upriver truss on steel cantilever brackets.
The aging bridge has a 15-ton weight limit, a 12’-6” height restriction, and a 15 MPH speed limit. It carried an average of 4,200 vehicles per day in 2023.
