Traffic is flowing again on Route 13 between Townsend and Smyrna over the Blackbird Creek.
Construction on bridges over the creek started in early September. Northbound lanes closed on September 8 and southbound lanes closed on September 15.
"As of this week, the project was completed ahead of time, and both directions were reopened to traffic by Tuesday," said C.R. McLeod, DelDOT’s community relations director.
Both closures were originally expected for 45 days, but one northbound lane opened Monday night in 43 days while one southbound lane opened Tuesday after 37 days of closure.
McLeod says Route 13 at the Blackbird Creek will be fully open by the morning commute next Monday.
"We'll still have just a single lane open both north and southbound while the contractor finishes up some work off the shoulder of the roadway and the bridge, both north and south. So, still going to be some construction happening through the end of the week, but then we expect those lane restrictions to be removed,” said McLeod. “And we'll be back up to two lanes, both north and southbound by next week."
The bridges in both directions were demolished and replaced. They deteriorated over time. The southbound bridge was over 100 years old and the northbound bridge was approaching 100.
The roadway approaching the bridges was also raised about eight feet according to McLeod. He says the lack of rain helped the project finish up earlier.
McLeod notes finishing early is good news for the heavily traveled stretch of roadway that sees 20,000-plus vehicles daily.
