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LOWER MERION – Commuters along one of the most heavily traveled roadways on the Main Line can expect some traffic issues during a two-year bridge renovation project.
Recently, PennDOT officials outlined their plans to renovate the bridge over the SEPTA Cynwyd Line on City Avenue during a public Zoom meeting.
Bill Laird, project manager for HDR, the lead design consultant for the project, said the work will begin early next year.
“City Avenue does carry over 40,000 vehicles a day,” Laird said. “City Avenue is certainly a vital route in the area, especially for travel. The purpose of this project is to rehabilitate the existing City Avenue bridge over the SEPTA Cynwyd line. The project is needed to address the poor condition of the existing structure. The underside of the arch exhibits severe spalling due to seepage of water through the structure, mainly at the gutter lines of the roadway, and the abutments exhibit severe spalling due to leaking joints at the ends of the bridge.”
Laird said the bridge will undergo a complete rehabilitation, including removing concrete and
existing fill. There will also be the installation of a new sidewalk and curb for pedestrians. They plan to replace the existing utilities underneath both sides of the sidewalk.
Among the utilities, Verizon and PECO have lines along the Philadelphia side, and Philadelphia Gas Works has a service line running through the stricture. The Philadelphia Water Company will also be upgrading some of its facilities on that side.
On the Lower Merion side, there is a very large PECO duct bank. Aqua has a line running through the sidewalk. PECO gas is also relocating and adding a line to the Lower Merion side, he said.
There will also be a new protective barrier above the SEPTA lines on both sides of the bridge.
“We’re going to remove the existing stairways and stairwells that have been closed for years on both sides of the structure. We will be replacing the existing retaining wall between the southbound City Avenue and the SEPTA entrance on the Northwest quadrant of the structure,” Laird said.
PennDOT will also install a new ADA ramp and stairway from City Avenue to the SEPTA station on the Philadelphia side. They will build a new stairway from City Avenue down to the rail area for the future Cywnyd trail extension access.
Drivers using City Avenue during the construction should expect lane shifts from about Bryn Mawr Avenue to 47th Street.
“There are no planned full roadway closures for this project. Pedestrian access will be maintained via sidewalk detours,” he said.
Construction will be performed mainly in six stages, with most of the stages maintaining two lanes of traffic in each direction on City Avenue for several shorter-term stages of about four to eight weeks. Traffic will be reduced to a single lane in each direction across the bridge during some stages of the work.
Through most of the six phases of construction, they plan to keep two lanes of traffic open. But there will be shorter periods of signal lane closures.
According to the schedule put out by PennDOT, the design is expected to be completed this fall, with construction to begin early next year. The work should be finished in late 2025.
The current plans are that the work would not affect the schedule on the SEPTA Cynwyd line.
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