Questions/Comments

Call or email: Director of Community Affairs Jodee Inscho
Phone: 267-394-6561
Email: communityaffairs@drjtbc.org

Unforeseen Structural Issue Found on Bridge; Full Reopening Must Be Delayed Several Months — Sept. 26 announcement

The current vehicular and pedestrian travel restrictions at the 120-year-old New Hope-Lambertville Toll-Supported Bridge must be extended several more months due to an unforeseen structural condition in one of the bridge’s six spans.

The discovery of a deteriorated critical structural connection in the bridge’s second span from the Pennsylvania side will force postponement of the walkway opening until sometime in December.

Meanwhile, the current New Jersey-bound vehicular traffic detour will likely need to be extended into early 2025, when an uninterrupted two-week-long shutdown of the bridge would be implemented to fully repair the deteriorated structural connection.

Current Status

In November 2024, this project entered into its final stretch. The removal of the temporary overhead work platform and installation of refurbished upstream guiderails is scheduled to occur during overnight periods from Nov. 18 to Nov. 21.

Other remaining tasks will need to be carried over into 2025 due to the discovery of an unforeseen structural issue in the bridge’s second span from the Pennsylvania side.  A firm schedule for addressing the unforseen structural issue is expected to be announced in late November 2024. It won’t be possible to fully reopen the bridge to vehicular traffic in both directions until that structural issue is address — currently projected for the end of January.

A temporary walkway is in service across the bridge’s roadway deck. A free courtesy shuttle bus operates 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. WEEKENDS-ONLY between New Hope and Lambertville. The ride is 12 mnutes long.

A New Jersey-bound traffic prohibition and detour remains in effect.  Pennsylvania-bound traffic has  been shifted back into its normal travel lane on the bridge’s upstream side.

As with any project of this scope, the schedule is subject to change due to weather, emergecies, and other factors.

Project Overview

The rehabilitation of the 119-year-old New Hope-Lambertville Toll-Supported Bridge began in early 2024.  The six-span steel Pratt-truss superstructure was last rehabilitated in 2004.

Project staging should allow uninterrupted westbound vehicular travel (Pennsylvania-bound) through the bulk of construction activities. Pedestrian crossings also are anticipated to continue without interruption through project construction.

Note: The recent discovery of an unforeseen structural issue in the bridge’s second span from the PA side is expected to necessite a full bridge closure on two consecutive nights in early December and an uninterrupted two-week-long shutdown of the bridge to all vehicular and pedestrian traffic beginning in mid-January, 2025.

The original bridge rehabilitation included a complete “taken-down-to-bare-metal” and re-painting of the entire structure. Paint enclosures were used for for this work. Vehicular crossings remain restricted to the PA-bound traffic (westbound).

The pedestrian walkway has been replaced, but cannot be put back into service until an unforeseen structural issue at the bridge is temporarilly addressed with the installation of a custom-made stabilization device called a friction collar (current projected new walkway opening is sometime in early December).

The bridge also is being outfitted with a new roadway lighting system and a programmable LED lighting system is being added to the structure to further enhance the truss bridge’s profile along the river.

The rehabilitation project work activities pose temporary impacts to motorists, pedestrians, residents, sightseers, and local businesses.

Ongoing Travel Restrictions

The bridge roadway is restricted to a single travel lane in the Pennsylvania-bound direction ONLY.  (This is the tolled direction at the nearby New Hope-Lambertville (Route 202) Toll Bridge.) The bridge walkway was shut down for replacement on July 11.  A temporary six-foot wide walkway has been installed and remains open across the bridge’s road deck. As previously noted, the Commission might be in a position to safely to reopen the completed new permanent walkway sometime in early December.

New Jersey-bound traffic remains detoured off the “free” bridge to the nearby toll bridge, where tolls are not charged in the New Jersey-bound direction (Route 202 northbound). Due to the discovery of an unforseen structural issue in one of the bridge’s six truss spans, the New Jersey-bound traffic detour is now expected to remain in place into early 2025.  A precise date for fully reopening the bridge is not expected to be announced until early 2025.

This webpage will be updated periodically through the project’s construction stages.

Project Information

Two-Week Look Ahead – Project Construction

Dec. 4-Dec. 20 – Work limited to daytime hours (7 a.m. to 9 p.m. maximum) weekdays. (Updated Dec. 3)

  • Under bridge work
    • Pull wire under downstream lane — Dec. 4-6,  9-13, 16-20
    • Pull camera power & fiber — Dec. 4-6, 9-13, 16-20
    • Install X3s — Dec. 11-13, 16-20
    • Strip and demobilize capping at first and second piers from PA side — Dec. 4-6
    • Touch-up painting — Dec. 4-6, 16-20
    • Clean bearings — Dec. 4-5
    • Waterproof piers — Dec. 9-13
    • Grease Bearings — Dec. 4-6, 9-10
  • Upper Truss
    • Remove upper platform — Dec. 4-6, 16-20
  • Deck Level
    • Install downstream guiderails and posts — Dec. 4-6, 9-10
    • Remove temporary barrier — Dec. 9-12
    • Touch up painting — Dec. 4-6
    • Install R1/R1A fixtures — Dec. 4-6, 9-12
    • Install upstream X1 fixtures — Dec. 13, 16-20
  • NJ Approach/Retaining Wall
    • Install electrical service pole — Dec. 4
    • Tie into service pole — Dec. 5-6, 9
    • Install vinyl fence 7 cap stones — Dec. 5-6
    • Install off-bridge railing — Dec. 4-6, 9-13, 16-20
  • PA Approach
    • Install off-bridge railing — Dec. 4-6, 9-13, 16-20
  • Walkway
    • Caulk under fiber-reinforced-polymer panels — Dec. 4, 11-13, 16-20

Schedule subject to change due to weather, river conditions, emergencies, supply-chain issues, staffing considerations, etc.

This document is being revised after the recent discovery of an unforesen structural issue in the bridge’s second span from the Pennsylvania side.  Please check back at a later time for this revised schedule of construction activities and related travel restrictions..

Click here to view the detour route of New Jersey-bound traffic at the bridge.  This detour has been extended due to the recent discovery of an unforeseen structural issue in the bridge’s second span from the Pennsylvania side. It is now scheduled to continue into Januay 2025

Project Goals

The folowing items are the informational display boards that were presented to the public at open houses in New Hope on June 14 and Lambertville June 15.  Some of these materials are outdated.  They remain posted here as part of the project record. Please click on each title below to review the respective display board content:

The Commission provided two open houses and a 14-day public comment period prior to this project’s final design process, which began July 1, 2023.

This public involvement effort generated written comments and/or questions from 49 different individuals.  Of the 54 comments/questions received, 20 were submitted via an open-house form and 34 were submitted online. Five individuals submitted twice.

The majority of comments/questions concerned two topics: (1) the architectural lighting planned for the bridge, and (2) the free shuttle service the Commission has committed to provide while the bridge walkway is closed for replacement between January and late April 2024.  The architectural lighting is a facet of the project final design process.  However, the shuttle service is neither part of the design process or the anticipated construction contract.  More information will be provided on this service once the Commission contracts with a vendor to provide the service.

CLICK HERE to read the Commission staff responses to comments/questions submitted as part of this project’s pre-final-design public comment process. 

Project Goals

  • Extend the bridge’s operational service life for New Hope and Lambertville
  • Improve safety by putting the bridge in a good state of repair
  • Mitigate major repairs and protracted lane closures for a minimum of 15 years
  • Install an architectural lighting system to enhance the bridge’s profile between the tourism-oriented commercial centers of New Hope and Lambertville at night

All future dates are tentative estimates and are subject to change:

  • Award of Design Contract/Limited Notice to Proceed — February 28, 2023
  • Open houses June 14, 2023 in New Hope and June 15, 2023 in Lambertville
  • Public comment period on open house materials ended 4 p.m. June 30, 2023
  • Final Design began — July 1, 2023
  • Design process completed second week of September 2023
  • Project put out to bid: Sept. 19, 2023
  • Construction Contract Awarded — November 20, 2023
  • Contractor Mobilization/Set up Preparations — January 2024
  • Construction activities began with uninterrupted detour of New Jersey-bound traffic only — January 30, 2024
  • Walkway closure with pedestrians shifted to a temporary six-foot walkway on bridge’s roadway — July 11, 2024 into Fall 2024
  • Completion of bridge painting — October 2024
  • An unforeseen structural issue in a portion of the bridge is necessitating the following work in addition to the original project scope:
    • Design of a temporary structural stabilization device called a “friction collar” — completed mid-October
    • Design of replacement steel pin and two diagonal steel truss pieces — completed mid-October
    • Fabrication of “friction collar” — anticipated delivery is around Thanksgiving
    • Installation of “friction collar” — work expected to take place with two successive overnight shutdowns of the bridge in early December
    • Reopening of the bridge’s newly completed walkway — after installation and engagement of the “friction collar” in early December (TENTATIVE)
    • Fabrication of permanent steel replacement pin (4-inches thick/18-inches-long) and two diagonal replacement steel truss pieces — delivery expected sometime in December
    • Preparation for installation of replacement pin and two diagonal steel truss pieces — second week of  January 2025 (TENTATIVE)
    • Uninterrupted shutdown of bridge to vehicular and pedestrian traffic — mid-January to late-January (TENTATIVE)
    • Installation of replacment pin and two diagonal street truss pieces and re-tensioning of the affect bridge truss (permanent fix) — mid-January to late-January (TENTATIVE)
    • Full bridge reopening — late January (TENTATIVE)
  • Completion of lighting system installation and testing — Early 2025
  • Final Completion — Early 2025

The anticipated scope of work for this bridge rehabilitation is anticipated to include (as of March 2023):

  • Patch spalls at abutment bridge seats, pier caps and pier noses
  • Repair various structural steel components
    • Repair/replace bottom-chord members that have corrosion holes
    • Repair/replace cracked pin collard at bottom chord pin connections
    • Insert shim plates between stub stringers bottom flanges and bearing seat over each pier
    • At second span from Pennsylvania side, drill out downstream truss’s plug welds and install high-strength bolts
    • Straighen/re-tension bent and/or loose I-Bar bottom chord members
    • Repair/replace cross bracing, sway bracing, portal angles with corrosion holes
    • Repair/replace damaged vertical in the upstream truss on the first span from the Pennsylvania side
    • Straighten an out-of-plane floorbeam on the first span from the Pennsylvania side
  • Evaluate the steel open-grate deck
  • Remove current fiberglass walkway panels and replace them with foam-core fiber-reinforced polymer panels
  • Re-anodize the walkway railings and reinstall
  • Install high-strength bolts to replace missing or bent anchor bolts at abutment and pier-truss bearings, and missing connection bolt in the upstream truss of the third pier from the New Jersey side
  • Repoint areas of deteriorated or missing mortar in the abutments and piers, replacing deteriorated stones as needed
  • Replace the corroded stormwater pipe and associated failing inlet at the downstream Pennsylania side of the bridge
  • Repair deteriorated patches in the New Jersey approach sidewalk
  • Replace approach guiderail end treatment on the Pennsylvania side
  • Clean and paint the steel superstructure and bearings
  • Repair the fractured capstone at the New Jersey approach barrier/retaining wall
  • Clean and paint the guide rail end treament on the Pennsylvania side and guide rail scrapes for the entire facility
  • Clean debris from the deck joints at the New Jersey and Pennsylvania abutments; replace strip-seal glands at the two abutments
  • Clean and lubricate the bridge’s truss bearings
  • Seal cracks in the west approach pavement
  • Remove non-operating navigation light on second span from New Jersey side
  • Replace the bridge’s highway lighting fixtures, along with cabling and conduit as needed
  • Replace conduit, fiber and equipment for the bridge’s security cameras
  • Install programmable color-changing aesthetic lighting to highlight the bridge’s architectural profile at night

Design Contract Work

  • Manage and administer the project, including development and implementation of public involvement and outreach.
  • Conduct an in-depth bridge inspection
    • Identify elements that require repair, strengthening or replacement
    • Collect sufficient information for the detailing of appropriate repairs, including documenting the as-built conditions (e.g. size, connection details, etc.).
    • (Note: The inspections are not expected to significantly impact motorists, but the bridge’s walkways could be closed or restricted for brief periods when engineers are conducting their work.)
  • Perform bridge load ratings followed by recommendations for strengthening, if necessary.
  • After the bridge inspection process, design engineers will map the course of action to address identified issues with the bridge and plan out the other major tasks that the Commission has budgeted to be conducted during the project.
  • Provide final bridge load ratings based on the post rehabilitation, as-built conditions of the bridge.
  • Evaluate the useful life expectancy of the steel grid deck.
  • Develop drawings, list structural details, compile construction specifications and map traffic-control plans, sequencing the project’s tasks in a manner that mitigates impacts to motorists, pedestrians, and the bridge’s two host communities.  These materials will be presented to the public at open houses where people can ask questions and provide comment.
  • Develop a lighting design for replacing the bridge’s roadway and sidewalk lighting.  Design will include placements and intensity of lighting.
  • Develop final plans, specifications and costs.
  • Provide post-design services.

The current six-span steel Pratt-truss New Hope-Lambertville Toll-Supported Bridge is the Commission’s fourth oldest superstructure.  It opened to traffic in July 1904. The older superstructures are at Calhoun Street (1884), Northampton Street (1895-96), and Riegelsville (April 1904).

The bridge’s steel superstructure rests on abutments and piers believed to have been constructed in 1813 and modified after major floods in 1841 and 1903.  The steel superstructure was designed by R. G. Develin, a Pennsylvania Railroad civil engineer, and constructed between April and August 1904 by Lewis F Shoemaker & Co. of Pottstown, PA.  The bridge’s steel members were manufactured by the Cambria Steel Company in Johnstown, PA.  The bridge was formally dedicated on Labor Day weekend 1904.

The bridge was constructed for the second incarnation of the New Hope Delaware Bridge Co., which operated it as a tolled crossing for its first 17 years.   The local shareholder-owned bridge company sold its bridge to the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey on December 31, 1919 for $225,000.  The sale had been arranged by the former Joint Commission for Elimination of Toll Bridges — Pennsylvania-New Jersey, the predecessor agency to today’s Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission.

The two states jointly owned the bridge for 67 years, annually paying the old Joint Commission and, later, the new Bridge Commission to operate and maintain the bridge. On July 1, 1987, the two states conveyed ownership of the bridge outright to the Bridge Commission under terms of a revised federal Compact that directed the Commission to operate and maintain the bridge — and 11 other bridges like it — with a share of the proceeds collected at the agency’s toll bridges.

The second bridge span from the Pennsylvania side sustained considerable damage in the historic river flood of August 19, 1955.  The bridge was subsequently shut down to all but emergency vehicles for about five weeks while repairs were made.  The bridge reopened to traffic September 22, 1955.

The bridge carried U.S. 202 across the Delaware River until 1971, when a four-lane toll bridge opened about a mile upstream.  Even before the construction of the toll bridge, the aging truss bridge between New Hope and Lambertville had its weight limit reduced several times.

The bridge’s last rehabilitation in 2004 was significant.  Major work items performed under the project included replacement of the floor system and deck; widening of the walkway to eight feet from the former six feet and installing a fiberglass walkway surface; superstructure and
substructure repairs; and cleaning and painting of the steel superstructure and bearings.

The bridge’s current posted weight restriction is 4 tons.  The Commission posts bridge monitors at both ends of the structure to protect it from overweight vehicles.  In 2022, 1,038 vehicles were denied entry onto the bridge and turned away by the stationed bridge monitors.

A total of 4,519,653 vehicular crossings were recorded at the bridge in 2022.  That works out to an annual average of 12,400 vehicles per day.

The bridge has a 15 m.p.h. speed limit and 10-foot vertical clearance.

The Commission considers this bridge to be the most painted and photographed structure along the river, owing largely to its location between the arts-oriented communities of New Hope and Lambertville.  The bridge also is believed to have the highest pedestrian usage counts of any crossing along the river.

Year constructed/opened: 1904

Structure type: Steel Pratt truss

Total length: 1055 feet (individual span lengths vary only slightly)

Width: 27 feet (outside truss)

Number of  traffic lanes:

  • PA-bound – 1
  • NJ-bound – 1

Total clear roadway width: 20 feet, 7 inches

Sidewalk width: 8 feet

Load posting: 4 tons

Vertical clearance on structure: 10-feet

FHWA classification: Functionally Obsolete

Last Rehabilitation: 2004

Last Painted: 2004

Flood Info (river reading levels in feet):

  • Normal: 49
  • Warning: 55
  • Flood: 62
  • Top of pier: 67.5

River Crossing Ownership

  • New Hope Delaware Bridge Co. (first incarnation) – 1814-1850
  • NJ-PA Receivers – Feb. 27, 1850-Apr. 4, 1854
  • John Michener/James Gordon (Philadelphia attorneys) – Apr. 4, 1854-Nov. 8, 1855
  • Samuel Grant of Philadelphia – Nov. 8, 1855-Sept. 23, 1872
  • Heirs of Samuel Grant – until May 11, 1887
  • New Hope Delaware Bridge Co. (second iteration) – May 11, 1887-Jan. 3, 1920 (note: closing took place Dec. 31, 1919 in Philadelphia)
  • New Jersey and Pennsylvania (owned jointly); managed and maintained with annual tax subsidies by former Joint Commission for Elimination of Toll Bridges — Pennsylvania-New Jersey — January 3, 1920 to December 28, 1934
  • New Jersey and Pennsylvania (owned jointly); managed and maintained with annual tax subsidies by the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission December 28, 1934 to June 30, 1987
    • States’ total joint ownership -67 years
  • Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission — July 1, 1987 to present (cost of operation and maintainence supported by a shares of toll proceeds collected at the Commission’s eight toll bridges)
  • Bridge financing history
    • Private tolled crossing – 105 years
    • Public non-tolled crossing – 103 years

Bridge Roadway Drone Footage – Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission March 19, 2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2P90BE-yHY

River View Drone Footage 1 – Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission October 21, 2021 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auGq2Jr8-qI

River View Drone Footage 2 – Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission October 21, 2021 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmscJ1LkbXk

Cambria Steel Company/Wikipedia Audio Article (major beams and girders of the New Hope-Lambertville Bridge were produced by the Cambria Steel Company)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RAsK6gYQEM

The Story of the Cambria Iron Works (later renamed Cambria Steel Company)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGoOMwHq0_Q&t=33s

Roadwaywiz, Westboud (YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-re4x_6HeI

Roadwaywiz Eastbound (YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEIsS7HgJ-A

Anchor House Ride 2013 – Part 3/John Hinton  (YouTube) – New Hope-Lambertville segment begins at 13:18 mark  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnGYYDb0HL4

New Hope Historical Society/John Weber 200th Anniversary Video (2014) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0UVvps1ypc&t=49s

Bridgehunter.com
https://bridgehunter.com/pa/bucks/97411999100050/

Historicbridges.org
https://historicbridges.org/bridges/browser/?bridgebrowser=newjersey/lambertville/

Bomboy, R. Scott Wooden Treasures; The Story of Bucks County’s Covered Bridges, Bridgetown Communications, 2022 (Print) 16-18, 19-20, 118-121

Dale, Frank T. Bridges over the Delaware River: A History of Crossings. Rutgers University Press, 2003 (Print), 21-28

Richman, Steven M. The Bridges of New Jersey: Portraits of Garden State Crossings. Rutgers University Press 2005 (Print) 58-59, 78-79

Shafer, Mary A. Devastation on the Delaware: Stories and Images of the Deadly Flood of 1955 Word Forge Books 2005 (Print) 80-81, 250, 268, 315, 329, 370, 420

Shank, P.E., William H. Historic Bridges of Pennsylvania. American Canal & Transportation Center Eighth Printing, Fourth Edition 2004 (Print) 8

Allen, Richard Sanders Covered Bridges of the Northeast. Dover Publications, Inc. 2004 (Print) 90-91

Mastrich, James; Warren, Yvonne; Kline, George; Lambertville and New Hope. Arcadia Publishing 1996 (Print) Sections One, Four, Six

Christianson, Justin & Marston, Christopher H.; Covered Bridges and the Birth of American Engineering. Historical American Engineering Record, National Park Service (Print) 105

The Commission’s Deputy Executive Director of Communications, Joe Donnelly, has endeavoed to compile a full history of the river crossing between  New Hope, PA. and Lambertville, N.J.  This effort began in the 200th anniversary year (2014) of the innaugural wooden bridge to be constructed at this location.  Over  the years, Donnelly has updated and expanded the research, culminating with a 90-minute-long presentation for the Lambertville Historical Society in November 2022.  That program was further edited, expanded, and converted into a 202-slide PDF file that may be viewed here free of charge.  The presentation includes numerous corrections of erroneous information in prior presentations and publications, including the Commission’s bridge manual.  Allow three hours to view the images and accompanying presentation notes.

An Enduring Crossing: The Full — and Accurate — History of the New Hope-Lambertville Bridge

Bridge Project Inquiry Form

The following form may be used for online inquiries for the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission’s New Hope-Lambertville Toll-Supported Bridge Rehabilitation Project. Asterisk items are mandatory. Boxes marked are optional.