Route 1 Toll Bridge Getting Security Improvements

LOWER BUCKS COUNTY, PA — The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission has awarded two contracts for a project that will improve highway lighting and security cameras in the vicinity of the Trenton-Morrisville (Route 1) Toll Bridge.

Construction activities for the Trenton-Morrisville ESS Cameras and Highway Lighting Improvement Project are expected to begin by September and take a year to complete, the DRJTBC said.

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The DRJTBC said the project will address two issues at and near the bridge:

• Overhaul the current network of remote security cameras on the bridge's New Jersey side that are currently sending images by unreliable wireless transmitters. The work will involve hard wiring of existing cameras. When completed the cameras will have direct fiber-optic feeds across the bridge to the Commission's new operations building in Morrisville. Several cameras will be added on the bridge's New Jersey side as part of this process, enabling Commission public safety and security forces to better monitor incidents and traffic leaving or approaching the bridge.
• Demolish and replace the electrical system that powers the highway lights and other devices on and around the bridge. The current electrical-supply system, which dates back to the 1950s, works in terms of powering the Commission array of bridge and approach lights, but it is prone to shorts and its automatic on-off controls are dysfunctional. The planned work involves removal of existing lighting feeds and controls, and installation of new conduits, wiring, lighting controls, and junction boxes.

To carry out the project, two contracts were awarded at the Commission's July 27 meeting in Lower Makefield Township.

The construction contract was awarded to PKF-Mark III of Newtown, PA. for a not-to-exceed amount of $7.72 million.

A corresponding construction management/inspections contract was awarded to Urban Engineers, Inc. of Mount Laurel, N.J. for a not-to-exceed amount of $1.2 million.

Officials said the upcoming project is separate and apart from a more expansive project that is expected to get underway next year in the vicinity of the bridge.

That project will replace the bridge's former cash-collection toll booth facility with a nearby open road all-electronic toll collection gantry and a series of improvements in the area of the Pennsylvania Avenue interchange in Morrisville, along with replacement of an approach bridge that carries Route 1 over NJ Route 29 north in Trenton, N.J.

The Trenton-Morrisville Toll Bridge opened to traffic on Dec. 1, 1952.

The bridge carries U.S. Route 1 between Trenton, N.J. and Morrisville. It was the Commission's second busiest river crossing in 2025, carrying an average of 52,800 vehicles per day in each direction.