Elizabeth Bridge delays to ease

By CHRISTINE HAINES

chaines@yourmvi.com

While work on the Elizabeth Bridge will continue into the fall, the last suspension cables will be replaced next week, meaning an end to the periodic half-hour closures and lengthy detours.

There will be shorter closures, perhaps 15 minutes at a time, in the next phase of the project, PennDOT engineer Jason Zang said.

“We will be replacing the main rocker bearings, which support the bridge and allow it to move at the same time,” he said.

That work will be done over a period of several months and will involve closing the bridge for about 15 minutes at a time in order to jack it up, put in temporary supports and replace the old bearings with new, updated bearings.

The $30 million rehabilitation of the bridge has been going on since last year and has run into a number of unexpected delays. Zang said at one point painting had to be delayed until after baby peregrine falcons had fledged. Their nest was located on the bridge structure.

The work this year has focused on replacing the 22 pairs of suspension cables holding up the bridge deck, Zang said.

“There are two more to do. It’s one of the trickiest projects I’ve ever seen in my career. They stretch and you have to be careful with the bridge geometry,” Zang said. “We had to learn how to transfer the load without damaging the bridge.”

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