Drivers should expect traffic delays as a major construction project to completely rebuild the driving surface of the Delaware Memorial Bridge begins.
The Delaware River and Bay Authority is now starting a major three-phased project to blast two inches off the road surface of the New Jersey-bound span of the bridge to eventually replace it with a special mix of concrete and steel fibers.
“It’s less permeable to water and the environmental effects, so it should last fifty years,” DRBA spokesman Jim Salmon told NBC10 in reference to the “Ultra High-Performance Concrete” that will replace the bridge’s old surface.
In the first phase of the project – slated from now through Nov. 22 – two lanes of the Delaware side of the bridge will be closed to traffic, with a third lane shut down overnight. The remaining two lanes will be open to traffic, as well as a bypass lane that will divert traffic around the construction. The bypass lane will only be for traffic headed to the New Jersey Turnpike.
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The second phase of the project — expected to run from Feb. 1 to May 25, 2023 — will close the left two lanes along the entire length of the bridge.
The third phase, estimated for Sept. 5 to Nov. 21 of 2023, will close the two right lanes of the New Jersey side of the bridge.
Drivers headed south on the bridge into Delaware likely won’t see much change in traffic, given almost all the construction is occurring on the New Jersey-bound side. But DRBA said motorists “should expect traffic congestion and delays heading into New Jersey.”
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The project, which will also including replacing relief joints and expansions joints, is expected to cost $71 million.
“Once this project is done, the New Jersey-bound span will be in as good a condition as it was when it was originally constructed. So that’s something to look forward to,” Salmon said.
