NEW HOPE, PA – Construction workers and engineers last night completed a multi-step process to remove a severely deteriorated structural connection that has forced a two-week-long shutdown of the New Hope-Lambertville Toll-Supported Bridge, the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission announced today.
The removal of the severely rusted and deformed 4-inch-diameter, 18-inch-long pin on the bridge’s second span is a critical milestone in an unprecedented repair effort aimed at getting the bridge back into limited service by January 27.
As anticipated, the pin removal was an elaborate task. Workers could not remove the corroded connection intact. So, they resorted to sawing, drilling, sledgehammering, and torching to get the misshaped metal piece out from a series of bridge structural supports. The stubborn pin was sawn in half early yesterday. The downstream portion of the pin was removed around 6 p.m. and the upstream portion was freed around 10:30 p.m.
Next Steps
With the pin removed, workers have already moved to the next step in the repair process involving removal and replacement of several steel components that also deteriorated at the pin connection point. Other tasks in the process involve realigning structural components, steel boring, and insertion of a custom-fabricated replacement pin.
The affected bridge section – the second truss span from the Pennsylvania side — will then need to be put back into tension independent of a temporary custom-made stabilization device called a “friction collar” that was installed on the bridge in late November. The unique device was put into tension early last week, allowing for the bridge’s shutdown on Monday for the pin-replacement process.
Because of the public’s interest in the bridge repair work, the Commission is providing a series of photographs of yesterday’s pin-removal activities. (All photos are courtesy of the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission [DRJTBC].)
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- January 6 – Pin connection with hex nut; surrounding bare-steel work is a portion of the temporary “friction collar” bridge stabilization device. Note: wired components are stress gauges.
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- January 14 – Initial attempts to remove/loosen pin with sledgehammer blows were unsuccessful.
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- January 14 evening – Downstream portion of pin successfully removed.
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- January 14 evening – Drilling into upstream pin portion.
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- January 14 overnight – Torching upstream pin to loosen and remove it.
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- January 14 overnight – Pin fully removed.
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- Portion of sawed pin. Note severe section loss on originally 4-inch-diameter pin.
