WELCOME!

Welcome to the website for the Scudder Falls Bridge Replacement Project.

The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission established this website in September 2003 to provide the public with information about the environmental documentation process for this major regional transportation improvement initiative. The website subsequently underwent periodic revision and updating as the Commission compiled a voluminous Environmental Assessment (EA) and a subsequent EA Addendum. This comprehensive process of research and review reached a successful completion with the Federal Highway Administration's issuance of a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) in June 2012, the paramount regulatory authorization needed for advancing the project to final design and eventual construction.

During the later stages of the environmental documentation and review process, the Commission was requested by the administrations in both states to consider possible procurement of the project as a Public-Private Partnership (P3). Such an arrangement was examined and deliberated, but ultimately it was determined that a traditional Commission-administered design-bid-build method of procurement would provide motorists with the best value through a reasonable toll structure at the envisioned replacement bridge. A traditional procurement also ensures the facility will remain completely in public hands. The project is now being pursued by the Commission under a design-bid-build process that will avoid the additional financing costs and debt burden of a P3 alternative.

The Commission's decision to pursue the project as a traditional public procurement was further affirmed in the summer of 2014 with the issuance of a Request for Proposal (RFP) for final design services. This selection process was completed with the award of a design contract to Michael Baker, Jr., Inc. of Hamilton, N.J. on February 23, 2015.

With the transition of project preparations to the final design phase, this website will undergo a series of revisions in 2015. Please check back periodically as project details such as a firm projected construction start date, bridge design, and public involvement activities come more clearly into focus.


QUICK OVERVIEW

Existing Bridge and Approaches

•  Constructed in 1959 - Utilizes pin & hanger connections (Similar to Connecticut's Mianus River Bridge that collapsed in 1983)

•  Existing bridge superstructure - girder, floorbeam, stringer type - does not lend itself to widening

•  Does not meet FHWA or state standards

•  Functionally obsolete -- two lanes in each direction are insufficient to handle peak-period traffic

•  No shoulders - major accidents and emergencies cause regional gridlock

•  Numerous safety and operating upgrades needed at the bridge, adjoining interchanges and approach highway segments

•  Geometry of bridge, approach highways and dysfunctional adjoining interchanges do not meet current standards

•  More than 100 accidents a year are recorded in the project area - some have been fatal

•  Bridge traffic volume was average of 58,400 vehicles per day in 2014


Project Benefits

•  Alleviate current and foreseeable future traffic congestion

•  Improve mobility and upgrade safety throughout the 4.4-mile project area (bridge, interchanges, approach roadways)

•  Address unsafe weaving and merging/diverging patterns on a new twin-span bridge outfitted with acceleration and deceleration lanes

•  Reconstruct /reconfigure interchanges to improve traffic flow and safety

•  Ensure critical access for community facilities and emergency services between NJ and PA

•  Shoulders (federally required) will make the bridge safer for drivers

•  Design allows for future mass-transit service

•  A pedestrian/bicycle pathway will connect canal paths on both sides of the river

•  Provide approximately 8,500 feet of noise-abatement walls at eligible areas along highway corridor


Current Status (early 2015)

•  The project is currently in final design

•  Final design completion expected in summer/fall 2016

•  Full construction beginning early 2017

•  Project completion in 3 to 4 years


Notable Environmental Documentation Links

•  Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) issued by Federal Highway Administration 2012

•  Environmental Assessment (EA)

•  Environmental Assessment Addendum (EA Addendum)

•  Responses to Public Hearing Comments (Appendix H - EA Addendum)

•  Project Concept (This a broad concept of project elements as presented in the EA process; actual design, staging, and scheduling will occur during the Final Design phase in 2015 and 2016).


This webpage was last updated: late February 2015


 Project Status Update

This project is sponsored by:

Delaware River
Joint Toll Bridge
Commission

This project is being done in cooperation with:

Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) Issued for the Project

For questions or more information
about the project, please call the
Project Information Line at 800-879-0849.

If you would like to speak with someone about the
Scudder Falls Bridge Replacement Project, please contact:

DRJTBC
Kevin Skeels, PE
Project Manager
(267) 790-1048
kskeels@drjtbc.org

Richard McClellan
Director of Community Affairs
(215) 862-7867
rmcclellan@drjtbc.org

AECOM
Richard Rash, P.E.
Project Manager
(267) 790-1055
mail to:rrash@drjtbc.org