NEW HOPE, PA – The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission (DRJTBC) today approved two contracts for a project aimed at rehabilitating approach slabs and structural components at various overpasses and approach structures within the agency’s roughly 7-mile-long I-78 Toll Bridge jurisdiction.
The work will include bridge deck approach slab replacements at eight approach structures (relatively short-distance overpass/underpass type bridges), cleaning and painting at six approach structures, and an assortment of other tasks, including restriping the Commission’s entire I-78 roadway segment.
Construction activities are expected to being early to mid-summer and continue until winter, when activity would be curtailed for the cold weather months. The project would then fully ramp up in the spring and continue until completion in fall 2018.
Various lane closures and traffic shifts will be needed to carry out the project. More information on those travel patterns will be provided in advance of each respective project stage.
“While this isn’t a large project, it is strategically important,’ said Joe Resta, the Commission’s executive director. “Our I-78 facility handles more traffic any of our other river crossing. It also is one of the most heavily used trucking routes in the country.”
The two project contracts were approved at the Commission’s monthly meeting today in New Hope, PA.
The project construction contract was awarded to J.D. Eckman, Inc. of Atglen, PA for a not-to-exceed amount of $11,117,003.61.
A separate contract for construction management/inspection services was awarded to Greenman-Pedersen Inc. of Lebanon, NJ for a not-to-exceed amount of $1,545,442.08.
Construction management involves oversight tasks like establishing and monitoring the project schedule and construction progress, reviewing shop drawing, and administering invoicing and payments.
Meanwhile, construction inspection services include monitoring and overseeing specific areas of the project’s construction field activities. This engineering oversight work also will help ensure that the project’s construction and materials conform to the Commission’s plans and specifications
The I-78 Toll Bridge opened to traffic November 21, 1989. The Commission’s jurisdiction includes the 1,222-foot-long twin seven-span river bridge, 2.25 miles of I-78 roadway in Pennsylvania and 4.2 miles of I-78 roadway in New Jersey. The Commission also owns and maintains 11 approach and overpass structures along this busy highway corridor.
