Tinicum supervisors have raised concerns about the Delaware River Toll Bridge Commission’s plan to rehabilitate the 93-year-old Uhlerstown-Frenchtown Bridge.
Board members objected to the installation of programmable LED lights and worried about the impact a long construction period would have on first-responders that need to navigate the Delaware River span.
The commission plans to submit final designs and request bids this fall, with a scheduled work window from January to fall 2025. The project will be funded by the toll commission collection funds.
In addition to needed masonry repairs, plans include doubling the size of the existing pedestrian walkway without narrowing the already-tight two-way road section. There are also plans to add new safety lighting as well as LED “architectural lighting” to the bridge.
A virtual public meeting was held on June 23 to look at design boards and help the public understand the strategic plans for operations during the 10-month rehabilitation window.
During the rehab project, traffic will be restricted to one 8-foot-6-inch wide lane — going eastward from Pennsylvania to New Jersey. Board and public concerns were raised that this lane would be too small for emergency vehicles to pass. The commission responded that all emergency vehicles would need to follow the same detour through Milford as other traffic will.
Tinicum Board Chair Eleanor Breslin stated, “this will add a good thirteen minutes to emergency response times and that is very concerning.”
The township intends to raise these concerns and others in a letter to the bridge commission, “as it is such a lengthy project, we need to ensure emergency vehicles can cross efficiently in both directions.”
Another Tinicum concern was the LED lighting, which would turn on at dusk and stay on until 11 p.m. The lighting could be dimmed and programmed in multiple colors for use during holidays such as Bastille Day, Pride Month, etc.
Breslin said, “Our reaction was this is not something our community would be clamoring for. We like our dark skies and do not need a carnival crossing from Pennsylvania to New Jersey. We are also very cognizant of the impact that light pollution would have on animals and of the impact the overall project would have on birds that nest in the structure.”
Vice Chair Richard Rosamilia said he had spoken with a structural engineer and raised an additional issue to attempt to improve the bridge’s bulky guardrails and better the bridge roadway’s width by 6 inches “so our rear-view mirrors will no longer be in threat of being hit by cars passing in the opposite direction.”
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