Rehabilitation Of New Hope-Lambertville Bridge Scheduled For 2024

NEW HOPE BOROUGH, PA — The New Hope-Lambertville Toll-Supported Bridge is scheduled for rehabilitation next year, including replacement of walkway panels and the addition of a programmable LED lighting system.

At its meeting on Feb. 27, the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission approved a $1,895,134 contract with engineering consulting firm – GPI/Greenman Pederson, Inc. of Lebanon, N.J. – to design the project.

The work is expected to include four major tasks:

• Repair various pieces of the bridge’s steel superstructure;
• Clean and repaint the bridge’s steel superstructure and underlying bearings;
• Replace the current fiberglass walkway panels with an improved system of quieter, slip-resistant fiber-reinforced-polymer panels; and
• Install a programmable LED lighting system to highlight the bridge's architectural profile at night along the river. This would be the first time the bridge has ever been outfitted with such a lighting system.

Because of the work performed during the last rehabilitation project in 2004, the commission said it anticipates less severe travel impacts. However, the commission said the bridge’s walkway will need to be closed for a yet-to-be-determined period to allow for removal of the old surface panels and installation of the new ones.

A significant design objective for GPI will entail sequencing the work in a manner that will mitigate the travel impacts needed to carry out construction in 2024.

According to the commission, GPI will begin its work by performing a detailed bridge inspection, which will confirm and assess the breadth of structural deficiencies to be addressed under the rehabilitation project. The inspections are not expected to significantly impact motorists, but the bridge’s walkways could be closed or restricted for brief periods when engineers are conducting their work.

After the bridge inspection process, design engineers will map the course of action to address identified issues with the bridge and plan out the other major tasks that the commission has budgeted to be conducted during the project. GPI will be tasked with developing drawings, listing structural details, compiling construction specifications and mapping traffic-control plans and sequencing the project’s tasks in a manner that mitigates impacts to motorists, pedestrians, and the bridge’s two host communities.

During the latter part of the design process, GPI is expected to hold two open house sessions (one in New Hope and one in Lambertville) to inform the public about the project’s purpose, identify substructure and superstructure conditions that need rehabilitation or repair, show bridge architectural lighting renderings, explain any travel restrictions that might be needed to carry out the project’s construction stages, and summarize the project’s anticipated work schedule. The public would be encouraged to ask questions and provide comment at those sessions.

The Bridge Commission is planning to create a project-specific webpage for the project with its webpage slated to go live sometime in March and remain available for duration of the project. The webpage will be updated as more information becomes available during project design and construction.

The design process is expected to be completed by the fall. Project construction would be advertised for competitive bids in late 2023 with a contract awarded in early 2024. Project construction could begin by late winter 2024.

The current six-span steel Pratt-truss bridge superstructure was constructed between April 1904 and July 1904. The bridge replaced a former wooden covered bridge that was destroyed in the devastating “Pumpkin Flood” of October 1903. The former wooden bridge had three original spans on the Pennsylvania side constructed in 1814 and three replacement spans on New Jersey side constructed after the ice-induced “Bridges Freshet” of January 1841.

The bridge was constructed for the second incarnation of the New Hope Delaware Bridge Co., which operated it as a tolled crossing – including for pedestrians and bicyclists – for a little more than 15 years. The local shareholder-owned bridge company sold the bridge to the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey for $225,000 in a transaction arranged by the former Joint Commission for Elimination of Toll Bridges on December 31, 1919. Tolls were removed three days later. The states conveyed ownership of the bridge to the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission on July 1, 1987.

The aging bridge has a four-ton weight limit, a 10-foot height restriction, and a 15 MPH speed limit. It carried an average of 12,400 vehicles per day in 2022.