YARDLEY, PA – Motorists might occasionally encounter brief travel delays during off-peak hours as the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission’s non-toll vehicular river crossings undergo biennial inspections this year.
The Commission’s engineering department and general engineering consulting firm will be conducting biennial inspections of the agency’s 12 “toll-supported” bridges from late March through June. Two of these structures are pedestrian-only crossings. The inspections help the Commission in prioritizing capital improvements and scheduling maintenance and repair work.
While much of the work occurs out of sight to the public, lane restrictions sometimes are needed at a bridge or on Commission-owned feeder roads and approach structures. Travel restrictions generally are limited to off-peak alternating single-lane travel restrictions. Motorist impacts — if any — are minor.
Preparations for the bridge inspections are expected to begin next week at the Centre Bridge-Stockton Bridge between Bucks County, PA. and Hunterdon County, N.J. The bridge is scheduled to be restricted to alternating single-lane travel controlled by flaggers from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday, Feb. 26, to Wednesday, Feb. 28. This will allow maintenance crews to install temporary cabling beneath the bridge.
Many of the bridges undergoing inspection this year are 100 years old or older and have only two vehicular travel lanes. The Commission performs bridge inspections on an annual basis; toll bridges are inspected in odd-numbered years and non-toll bridges in even years. The biennial inspections are conducted in accordance with the Federal Highway Administration and the National Bridge Inspection Standards. The findings are published as part of the Commission’s annual inspection reports available here: http://www.drjtbc.org/documents/inspection/.
Note: A toll-supported bridge is free for the public’s use, but the cost of operating and maintaining the bridge is funded by tolls collected at the Commission’s eight toll bridges.
About the Commission
The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission was formed statutorily by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the State of New Jersey in 1934 and Congress ratified the arrangement under the Compact Clause of U.S. Constitution in August 1935. The agency operates eight toll bridges and 12 toll-supported bridges, two of which are pedestrian-only spans. The Commission is a self-supporting public-service agency that receives neither federal nor state tax dollars to finance its projects or operations. Funding for the operations, maintenance and upkeep of its bridges and related transportation facilities is solely derived from revenues collected at its toll bridges. The Commission’s jurisdiction extends along the Delaware River from the Philadelphia-Bucks County line north to the New Jersey/New York border. More than 131.5 million cars and trucks crossed Commission bridges in 2023. For more information, please go to: www.drjtbc.org.
