Scudder Falls (I-295) Toll Bridge

To view toll rate information, please click here.

Click here to view a short video highlighting the major improvements constructed under the Scudder Falls Bridge Replacement Project.

The following account of the Scudder Falls Toll Bridge’s upstream span construction is from the Commission’s 2019 annual report:

Tale of the Tape: After 770 Construction Days,
Scudder Falls Toll Bridge’s Upstream Span Begins Service

GENERAL

The Scudder Falls Toll Bridge’s upstream span is the first of two parallel structures that will carry I-295 traffic between New Jersey to Pennsylvania.  This inaugural span was constructed adjacent to, and just north of, the existing bridge.  Construction of this new bridge began May 30, 2017.  It opened to traffic in the Pennsylvania-bound direction only approximately 11 p.m. July 9.  Toll collections began with an all-electronic system on July 14.  The span went into full temporary service – carrying traffic in both directions — on July 26, 2019, thus supporting the demolition of the former functionally obsolete Scudder Falls Bridge and the construction of the second parallel replacement span.  The construction of the downstream span is on-going and is expected to open in a limited configuration by late summer 2021.  Full project completion is expected by late May 2022.

The Scudder Falls Bridge Replacement Project’s major elements include:

• Replacement of the nearly 60-year-old Scudder Falls Bridge with a dual-span steel multi-girder bridge that will have six thru-travel lanes, three auxiliary lanes, shoulders, and a dual-use walkway when fully completed in the second half of 2021;
• Improvement/widening/replacement of 4.4 miles of approach roadways and bridges between the I-295/PA Route 332 Interchange (Exit 8) in Pennsylvania and the I-295/Bear Tavern Road Interchange (Exit 75) in New Jersey;
• Reconfiguration of the I-295/Taylorsville Road Interchange (Exit 10) in Pennsylvania;
• Reconstruction of the I-295/Route 29 Interchange (Exit 76) in NJ with new ramps, connector lanes, two roundabouts, and drainage;
• Installation of noise-abatement walls where warranted along the project’s Pennsylvania and New Jersey highway segments;
• Erection of an all-electronic-tolling gantry to assess tolls via E-ZPass and TOLL-BY-PLATE billing on vehicles moving at highway speeds in the Pennsylvania-bound direction across the new bridge;
• Construction of an adjoining Bridge Monitor/ All Electronic Tolling Building; and
• Development of a wetlands-mitigation area near the bridge’s Pennsylvania abutment.

The awarded bid for the overall project was $396 million, which includes a $99,943,285 cost for constructing the two parallel replacement bridge spans.

SUBSTRUCTURE

The upstream bridge span consists of six reinforced concrete piers constructed on reinforced concrete pile caps.  The pile caps at piers 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 are supported by six five-foot-diameter reinforced concrete caissons socketed into subsurface rock; the pile cap at pier 4 is supported by eight five-foot-diameter reinforced concrete caissons socketed into rock.  The two abutments are reinforced concrete stub structures founded on steel H-piles driven to rock.  The Pennsylvania abutment is protected by sloping rock armor and the New Jersey abutment is behind a mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) wall.

SUPERSTRUCTURE

The upstream bridge is a seven-girder, seven-span continuous steel structure with a 10-inch-thick reinforced-concrete deck topped by an inch-thick polyester-polymer concrete (PPC) overlay. The structure consists of a 191-foot, 6-inch span on the Pennsylvania side, five 279-foot-long interior spans, and 227-foot, 6-inch end span on the New Jersey side.  The total bridge length is 1814 feet from the center of abutment bearings.    The bridge has a 0.68-percent downward grade from New Jersey to Pennsylvania.

The reinforced concrete deck measures 88 feet, 1-¼ inches out to out.  It is designed to carry three 12-foot-wide through lanes and one 12-foot-wide auxiliary lane to accommodate merging traffic accelerating onto I-295 from a NJ Route 29 interchange on-ramp in New Jersey and decelerating off I-295 to a Taylorsville Road interchange off-ramp in Pennsylvania.  The right shoulder is 12-feet wide and the left median shoulder is 13-feet, 2-¾ inches wide.  The right barrier is 2-feet, 2-¼ inches wide.  The left median barrier is 1-foot, 8 inches wide. The structure has a shared-use pedestrian/bicycle pathway on the upstream side; this facility is expected to connect the canal towpaths in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey around the time the second parallel bridge span opens in late summer 2021.  The shared use pathway will be 10-feet wide with a foot-wide curb, sightseeing bump outs, and an anodized aluminum railing.

An approximate list of materials used to construct the replacement bridge’s first completed (upstream) span follows:

Substructure quantities:

6,520 CY of Excavation

4,260 CY of No. 57 Coarse Aggregate

7,010 CY of Class A Cement Concrete

600 CY of Class AA Cement Concrete

7,890 LB of Fabricated Structural Steel, Galvanized

1,220,480 LB of Reinforcement Bars, Galvanized

2,100 LF of Steel Beam Bearing Piles, HP 14 x 89

420 LF of 60” Diameter Drilled Caisson, Shaft Section

800 LF of 54” Diameter Drilled Caisson, Rock Socket

1,770 SF of Mechanically Stabilized Earth Wall (MSE Wall)

1,350 SF of Architectural Concrete Surface Treatment

Superstructure quantities:

5450 CY of Class AAAP Cement Concrete, Deck

780 CY of Class AA Cement Concrete, Barriers

553 LF of Sound Barrier with Clear Acrylic Panels

1,630 LF of Protective Fence

1,640 LF of Pedestrian Railing

220 LF of Modular Joins System

10,020,340 LB of Fabricated Structural Steel, Unpainted

56 High Load Multi-Rotational Bearings

35,690 SF of Architectural Concrete Surface Treatment

1,873,200 LB of Reinforcement Bars, Galvanized

18,510 CF of Polyester Polymer Concrete (PPC) Overlay

The following account of the Scudder Falls Toll Bridge’s downstream span construction is from the Commission’s 2021 annual report:

Tale of the Tape: After 752 Construction Days,
Scudder Falls Toll Bridge’s Downstream Span Opens

GENERAL

The Scudder Falls Toll Bridge’s downstream span is the second of two parallel structures that now carry respective directions of I-295 between Pennsylvania and New Jersey.  This second span opened to New Jersey-bound traffic approximately 8:30 p.m. August 17.  The opening marked the completion of the five-year-long Scudder Falls Bridge Replacement Project’s Stage 2 work.  This new downstream bridge span was constructed adjacent to — and just south of — the upstream span that opened to limited traffic the night of July 9, 2019.   That upstream span carried both directions of I-295 on a temporary basis until the now-operational second parallel span could be constructed.

Construction of the second span took place over a 752-day period, starting on July 29, 2019.  The work included the removal of the former Scudder Falls (I-95) Bridge, which opened to traffic in June 1961.  Upon being put into service, the downstream span operated under a temporary traffic configuration carrying NJ-bound traffic in the right-most lanes and the upstream span carrying PA-bound traffic in its right-most lanes.  This set up allowed for the completion of Stage 3 work activities on both bridge spans and elsewhere in the project area through the summer and fall.  Stage 3 ended on December 17, 2021, at which point the overall project reached its “substantial completion” milestone.

In addition to the dual-span replacement bridge, the project included nearly 4.4 miles of approach roadway improvements between the I-295/PA Route 332 Interchange in PA. and the I-295/Bear Tavern Road Interchange in N.J.; the reconfiguration of the I-295/Taylorsville Road Interchange in PA.; and the reconstruction of the I-295/Route 29 Interchange in N.J. and associated ramps and structures.  The project also included construction of noise walls in both PA. and N.J., a four-story bridge-monitor/all-electronic-tolling building, an all-electronic tolling gantry for highway-speed E-ZPass and TOLL-BY-PLATE toll collections, a shared-use walkway on the bridge’s upstream span, and a wetlands-mitigation site in Pennsylvania.  The awarded bid price for the overall project was $396 million, which included $99,943,285 in costs for constructing the parallel replacement bridge structures.

SUBSTRUCTURE

 The downstream NJ-bound bridge structure has six reinforced concrete piers constructed on reinforced concrete pile caps.  The pile caps at piers 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 (pier numbers are assigned from PA. to N.J.) are supported by six five-foot-diameter reinforced concrete caissons socketed into rock.  The pile cap at pier 4 is supported by eight five-foot-diameter reinforced concrete caissons socketed into rock.  The new bridge’s two abutments are reinforced concrete stub structures founded on steel H-piles driven to rock.  The PA abutment is protected by sloping rock armor and the NJ abutment is behind a mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) wall.

SUPERSTRUCTURE

The downstream bridge is a seven-girder, seven-span continuous steel structure with a 10-inch-thick reinforced concrete deck plus a one-inch polyester-polymer-concrete (PPC) overlay. The span configuration consist of a 191-foot-6-inch end span on the Pennsylvania side, five 279-foot-long interior spans, and a 227-foot-6-inch N.J. end span.  The total bridge length is 1,814 feet from center to center of abutment bearings.  The bridge has 0.68-percent downward grade from N.J. to PA.

The bridge’s reinforced concrete deck is 88-foot-7-inches wide in spans 1 through 6.  The width of span 7 varies from 88-feet-7-inches to 89-feet-1-inch.  The bridge carries three 12-foot-wide through lanes and two 12-foot-wide auxiliary lanes accommodating accelerating traffic entering from on ramps at Taylorsville Road in PA. and decelerating traffic to an exit ramp at Route 29 in N.J.   There is a 12-foot-wide right shoulder and a 13-foot-3-inch left median shoulder.  The left shoulder is wider to accommodate potential bus/rapid-transit service. Concrete barriers on the right and left sides of the road deck are each 1-foot-8-inches wide.

The following is an approximate list of quantities of material that went into the construction of the downstream bridge:

Substructure quantities:

6,520 CY of Excavation

4,260 CY of No. 57 Coarse Aggregate

7,010 CY of Class A Cement Concrete

600 CY of Class AA Cement Concrete

7,890 LB of Fabricated Structural Steel, Galvanized

1,220,480 LB of Reinforcement Bars, Galvanized

2,100 LF of Steel Beam Bearing Piles, HP 14 x 89

420 LF of 60” Diameter Drilled Caisson, Shaft Section

800 LF of 54” Diameter Drilled Caisson, Rock Socket

1,770 SF of Mechanically Stabilized Earth Wall (MSE Wall)

35,700 SF of Architectural Concrete Surface Treatment

Superstructure quantities:

5450 CY of Class AAAP Cement Concrete, Deck

780 CY of Class AA Cement Concrete, Barriers

220 LF of Modular Joins System

10,020,340 LB of Fabricated Structural Steel, Unpainted

56 High Load Multi-Rotational Bearings

1,350 SF of Architectural Concrete Surface Treatment

1,873,200 LB of Reinforcement Bars, Galvanized

18,510 CF of Polyester Polymer Concrete (PPC) Overlay

A separate webpage has been created for the Scudder Falls Shared Use-Path.  Click here to view that page, which contains additional information, a map, and rules/restrictions.

The Commission’s authority to toll has always been rooted in its Compact, first jointly enacted by the two states in 1934 and ratified by Congress in 1935. That authority has been reaffirmed in court decisions and subsequent changes and expansions to the Compact. The Commission’s ability to charge tolls at the Scudder Falls location stems from provisions added to the Commission’s federal Compact between 1984 and 1987. The Supplemental Agreement to the Compact was approved by Pennsylvania in 1984 and New Jersey in 1985. The U.S. Congress approved the changes April 1, 1987. On December 21, 2009, the Commission unanimously approved a resolution authorizing the agency’s Executive Director to “take all steps necessary to toll the Scudder Falls Replacement Bridge.“ A subsequent 2010 Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) legal opinion confirmed the Commission’s tolling authority at the Scudder Falls location “so long as the bridge is replaced, and the impacts of tolling are considered under NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act).” (This final stipulation was addressed through the project’s EA Addendum.) In September 2012, the FHWA informed the Commission that a tolling agreement was not required for the replacement bridge under the federal transportation funding law (MAP-21).