Traffic alert: Washington Crossing Bridge work will allow 1 lane

✅ A bridge assessment begins Tuesday and runs weekdays

✅ The work takes place 9:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m./h3>

✅ It is part of the DRBC's decision making about the 119-year-old bridge

It could take extra time the cross the Washington Crossing Bridge for two weeks starting Tuesday as inspectors perform an "assessment" of the 119-year-old bridge.

The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission said flaggers will allow just one lane of traffic to cross the bridge between Upper Makefield, Pa. and Hopewell Township, NJ Tuesday, Sept. 3 through Friday, Sept. 6 and again Monday, Sept. 9 and Friday, Sept. 13. The inspection will take place between 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., weather permitting.

The Scudder Falls Bridge on Route 295 is the suggested alternative. A toll is charged to enter New Jersey via E-Z Pass or Toll-By-Plate.

Engineers will be assessing the bridge's structural members, supports, and connections as part of it's "alternatives analysis" of what it calls an "operationally challenged" span. It is required to inspect the bridge under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

This inspection will go beyond the requirements as part of decision making process about the future of the bridge. Its options include doing nothing to the bridge, rehabilitating it, replacing it, or reusing it in a different manner.

Opposition to replacement

The commission in February announced it is considering replacing the struture which is the narrowest of its 18 vehicular bridges with a 7.5 foot width which often reduces traffic to a crawl. By comparison, the width of an interstate highway travel lane is 12 feet.

Plans to replace the bridge have met with resistance from Upper Makefield and Wrightstown leaders.

Upper Makefield's Board of Supervisors rejected the idea in a resolution in March listing a number of concerns including exacerbation of river flooding and additional traffic a larger bridge would bring to the Village of  Washington  Crossing.  The supervisors were also unhappy with what they called the lack of a "courtesy notice" about its plans.

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