New Hope-Lambertville Bridge Rehabilitation Project Starts Next Monday

The project to overhaul the New Hope-Lambertville Toll-Supported Bridge will begin next Monday.

After two weeks of staging equipment and preparing to begin, the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission confirmed the work will begin on January 29.

Instead of closing the bridge to pedestrian access, the commission recently changed the plans to allow for uninterrupted pedestrian travel across the bridge that connects Bucks County and Hunterdon County for the project that is expected to take 10 months.

Below is the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission’s full press release:

Construction activities for the 10-month-long New Hope-Lambertville Toll-Supported Bridge Rehabilitation Project remain on track to begin one week from today – Monday, January 29 – the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission announced today.

The bridge’s roadway will be reconfigured to create a cordoned work zone on the upstream side.  To accomplish this, a New Jersey-bound traffic detour will be put into effect at the intersection of Bridge and Main streets in New Hope and Pennsylvania-bound traffic will be shifted into the travel lane that normally carries New Jersey-bound traffic. The bridge walkway shall remain open. 

Work crews today are posting signage to provide motorists advance warnings of the New Jersey-bound traffic detour.  This signage is on the Pennsylvania side in the vicinity of Bridge and Main streets and at the intersection of Bridge Street and Route 202 to the west in Solebury Township.

New Jersey-bound detour: An uninterrupted New Jersey-bound traffic detour could go into effect as early as pre-dawn hours on Monday, January 29.  This detour is expected to remain in place for slightly more than eight months.  Eastbound traffic will be blocked at the intersection of Bridge and Main streets in New Hope.  Begin-detour signage at this intersection and at the intersection of West Bridge Street and Route 202 to the west will direct affected New Jersey-bound motorists to the nearby New Hope-Lambertville Toll Bridge and Route 202 northbound, which is toll-free for travel into New Jersey.  The full detour route continues to the intersection of Main Street/Route 29 and Bridge Street/Route 179 in Lambertville.

Once the work zone is established on the bridge and its approaches, the contractor will proceed with project containment measures, notably the installation of a suspended debris-containment/work platform beneath the bridge. Scaffolding and tarping measures will then follow.  The bridge’s 120-year-old steel truss will then be cleaned down to bare metal with repairs being made where needed.  A three-coat paint system will later be applied followed by electrical and lighting work.

The first project stage currently is expected to continue into a May.  A specific date for when this first work stage will end and the second stage will begin is expected to be announced during the spring.

• Stage 1 travel pattern —  https://www.drjtbc.org/wp-content/uploads/Stage-1_bridge_travel_starts_January_29.pdf

• NJ-Bound detour map — https://www.drjtbc.org/wp-content/uploads/NJ-bound_travel_detour_January_to_September.pdf  

As with any public works project, the new plan and schedule for carrying out the New Hope-Lambertville Bridge rehabilitation project is subject to change due to unpredictable variables like emergencies, supply-chain issues, and severe weather and river conditions.

A project webpage was established in early 2023.  It is updated periodically. It can be viewed at: https://www.drjtbc.org/project/newhopelambertville.