The northbound lanes of I-495 through Wilmington were reopened to traffic over the weekend following the successful realignment of the I-495 Bridge spanning the Christina River, Delaware Secretary of Transportation Shailen Bhatt announced. The southbound lanes were reopened July 31. This means traffic is now fully restored to the bridge in both directions.
The full reopening of the bridge is occurring earlier than anticipated due to significant time savings achieved during the work to construct new underground support columns. The process to jack the southbound and northbound sides of the bridge back into alignment also went smoothly. Both operations could have taken substantially more time if problems had been encountered.
“Fully reopening this vital economic link in Delaware and along the northeast in less than three months is a testament to the hard work and dedication of so many individuals,” said Delaware Gov. Jack Markell. “Getting this work done quickly was important, but the safety of the traveling public and the many jobsite workers was very important too.”
I-495 has been closed to traffic since June 2 when the interstate, which parallels I-95 and serves as a bypass through Wilmington, was shut down due to an unsafe bridge condition in both directions of travel. The 4,800-ft bridge normally carries approximately 90,000 vehicles per day.
Realigning the tilted bridge has been a collaborative effort between DelDOT, Delaware’s Congressional delegation, the U.S. DOT’s Federal Highway Administration, AECOM and J.D. Eckman Inc. Various Delaware-based subcontractors and construction trades also have been employed on the project, which has an estimated cost of $45 million.
“Although the permanent repairs to the bridge are still under way, we are all pleased to be able to restore traffic for the tens of thousands of motorists who use this highway every day,” Bhatt said.
