The Delaware River and Bay Authority will receive more than $22 million from the federal BUILD program to enhance its ship collision protection system. The project will upgrade existing protections and construct eight 80-foot-wide concrete caissons to keep ships from hitting the bridge.
Officials say it’s the largest U.S. Department of Transportation Better Utilizing Investment to Leverage Development (BUILD), formerly TIGER, grant ever received by a Delaware project.
Delaware River and Bay Authority Spokesman Jim Salmon says the Authority has been looking for funding to do this project for about 25 years. “Our current bridge tower pier protection system is original to each of the spans,” he said. “Today’s tankers and ships are bigger and faster than those of the 1950s and ‘60s.”
Delaware’s Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester toured the bridge this week. She says the grant is a good use of tax dollars, if it will help prevent a bridge shutdown. “The last time a boat collided into the bridge was 1969, and the economic impact of that is huge.”
Salmon says although no ship has hit the bridge in fifty years, the Croda gas leak last November, which shut down the bridge for several hours on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, showed the importance of the bridge to area transit. “As evidenced by what happened with the unfortunate gas leak, if this bridge shuts down, it has significant impact on commerce and travel on the East Coast,” he said.
The project is expected to cost $45 to $46 million. The grant will pay for roughly half, and the rest of the funding will come from toll revenue.
The grant, which was announced in December, will cover roughly half of the project. The rest of the funding will come from toll revenue.
The project is expected to begin construction in 2020 and be completed in 2023. Salmon says no traffic interruptions are anticipated.
