Repairs under way at Bristol Township Edgely bridge in Lower Bucks. Here's when it's done

A $1 million repair to the shuttered Edgely bridge in Bristol Township has begun, and the bridge could be reopened by the end of the year.

The two-lane bridge, which connects the township with the riverfront community of Edgely, is heavily used by locals to cross over the Northeast Corridor rail lines, the heaviest traveled in the country. It was closed in early 2023 after chunks of concrete dropped from its underside onto the tracks, endangering rail traffic and employees of both freight and passenger lines. These include Amtrak’s Acela and SEPTA’s local trains to Philadelphia and Trenton. The bridge’s abutments also need shoring up.

Troubled bridgeBristol Township gets $2M to repair, reopen Edgely bridge. Replacement will have to wait

“Demolition of the concrete began,” the township manager Randee Mazur posted on the township’s online Community Notes page. “Concrete demo went slower than expected due to steel wires running through and adjacent to the floor beams of the bridge beneath the concrete encasement. These wires were unknown to us prior to the contractor beginning to remove the concrete and required extra time to complete the demo work as they had to demo around these steel wires.”

With $2 million, the township-owned bridge will be rehabbed so it is safe to travel. But a troubling issue is that the bridge has a 3.5-ton weight limit, and work trucks carrying freight and equipment often exceed that load. Illegal crossings by drivers who disregard the weight limit caused the span to weaken. So has age. The bridge was built in 1919, when Woodrow Wilson was president.

“The bridge work, with no delays to the schedule, should be completed by the end of July,” according to the online announcement from the township. “If the (bridge’s) abutments are ready for work, then … this work could start as early as July/August and is estimated to take 3 months. The abutments are what required the 3.5-ton limit and there is discussion with the work being done, that that may be able to be increased once completed. Our police department was advised we will need truck enforcement for the bridge to enforce whatever weight limit there is while we continue to work on design and funding for a full bridge replacement.”

A full bridge replacement is estimated at $25 million. How that will be funded isn’t clear, but the township is exploring its options through state and federal cash.

JD Mullane can be reached at 215-949-5745 or at jmullane@couriertimes.com.