Work is progressing on several different fronts on the Scudder Falls Bridge improvement project over the Delaware River.
After several years of delay, work on the $500 million bridge that connects New Jersey to Pennsylvania appears to be moving full speed ahead toward a completion date in mid to late 2021.
A spokesman for the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission that operates Scudder Falls and several other Delaware River bridges said work is progressing in nine different spots of the multi-faceted project, which is one of the largest in area history.
Work has started on the bridge improvement itself, which entails building a new span next to the existing I-95 bridge that crosses the Delaware from Lower Makefield, Penn., into Ewing, N.J. Traffic continues to flow on the existing bridge during construction of the new span, scheduled to be finished roughly in the late spring of 2019.
When the new span is finished in 2019, traffic will shift over to it. The current bridge then will be demolished and a second new span constructed in its place. Also at that point, electronic tolls will be instituted for motorists going from New Jersey into Pennsylvania.
The finished bridge that emerges in 2021 will have three lanes in each direction instead of the current two, shoulders and deceleration lanes, a pedestrian lane for walking and cycling, and improved exits and entrances.
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Source: Bucks County Courier Times (Levittown, Pa.)
