The Delaware River and Bay Authority is readying commuters for a major construction project on the Delaware Memorial Bridge.
The three phase project on the New Jersey-bound span of the bridge is the first deck overlay on this span since it was reopened to traffic in 1968.
The top 2 inches of the existing deck slabs will be removed and replaced with an Ultra High-Performance Concrete overlay on the span.
The first phase gets underway right after Labor Day, and it will be completed prior to Thanksgiving weekend. The second phase takes place in the spring and the third will start after Labor Day 2023.
DRBA’s Jim Salmon says the plan is to make sure there are still three lanes of traffic going to New Jersey and coming to Delaware during construction.
"Even though two lanes are going to be shut down on the New Jersey-bound span we will continue to maintain three lanes in both directions, and you ask how would we do that. We're going to open up a bypass lane with a temporary Jersey barrier on the exterior lane of the southbound bridge and designate that for northbound traffic," said Salmon.
Construction on the Delaware span will be suspended during this project.
The first virtual public session is Thursday July 28 at 5 p.m., and the second one is August 16 at 10 a.m.
Salmon says the public meetings will cover the entire project.
"Each session will provide an overview of the deck overlay project, its importance and lane restrictions, traffic impacts, and the timing and scheduling of the activity on the northbound span," said Salmon.
Both will be through zoom with links at www.bridgealerts.com.
