Thursday, July 7, 2011

More Bridgework

8 Delaware River bridges to be repaired

Posted: Thursday, July 7, 2011 10:45 am | Updated: 12:09 pm, Thu Jul 7, 2011.
The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission today announced work has begun on a seven-month-long project to repair eight bridges including two in Morrisville.
The Lumberville-Raven Rock Toll-Supported Pedestrian Bridge between Central Bucks County and Hunterdon County, N.J. will be the first span to undergo work.
Work crews began grearing up at the span next to the Black Bass Inn this week.
Construction will soon follow over the next two weeks at the Lower Trenton ("Trenton Makes") and Calhoun Street toll-supported bridges, two spans that link Trenton with Morrisville.
In most cases, motorists and pedestrians will be unaffected while project construction activities are being performed. The preponderance of work is planned to take place on the masonry substructures below the bridge deck, often out of sight to the general public.
The one notable work element that may raise public curiosity will be the use of cofferdams to carry out the project. These temporary dams will consist of large white bags submerged around various bridge piers, creating spaces that can be pumped free of water to provide workers with dry spaces to carry out masonry repairs below the water line.
The work is being performed under a multi-faceted effort aimed at repairing and rehabilitating the piers and abutments that support 15 of the commission's 20 river crossings.
The project includes above-water and below-water scour remediation -- the placement of rocks around pier abutments and aprons that washed away over time or during flood events. Scour is the leading cause of bridge collapses in the United States, accounting for 60 percent of the nation's highway bridge failures, according to a Federal Highway Administration report.
Other project work activities will include debris removal, concrete and crack repairs, masonry repairs, and pier and apron repair at the bridge foundations.
In addition to the three bridges identified above, the following Commission bridges are to be addressed under the Phase 2 project:
  • Washington Crossing Toll-Supported Bridge
  • New Hope-Lambertville Toll-Supported Bridge
  • I-78 Toll Bridge
  • Portland-Columbia Toll Bridge
  • Delaware Water Gap (I-80) Toll Bridge
Five of these bridges -- Lower Trenton, Calhoun Street, New Hope-Lambertville, Portland Columbia and Delaware Water Gap -- had substructure and/or scour remediation issues partly addressed under a prior first-phase project that began in the fall of 2010 and carried over into the early 2011.
The remaining three bridges -- Washington Crossing, Lumberville-Raven Rock, and I-78 -- will have all work performed under the second phase contract.

An additional bridge -- the Scudder Falls (I-95) Bridge -- also has substructure repair needs, but that crossing is expected to be entirely rebuilt in coming years.
More information on the commission's initiatives may be found in the Commission Projects section of the agency's website: www.drjtbc.org.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, come along! I've got two spears,
And I'll poke your eyeballs out at your ears;
I've got besides two curling-stones,
And I'll crush you to bits, body and bones.

Anonymous said...

What's your point Billy???

Anonymous said...

That's a touching little ditty.

It sounds like something a certain High Public Official School Board Member could have written on the memo line of their $120000 check to a Former Morrisville School Superintendent.