Key Strawberry Mansion bridge reopened in ribbon-cutting ceremony

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Residents in the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood are relieved that a key connector in their community is open once again after a three-year reconstruction project.

Mayor Cherelle Parker led a ribbon-cutting on Tuesday to reopen the Montgomery Avenue Bridge. The 111-year-old span over SEPTA, Amtrak and Conrail tracks was rebuilt over the last three years.

The $17 million project was among the first bridge projects in the city to be funded by the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law . Parker says it restores a vital neighborhood link, calling the bridge “a chief connector between the people, places and things that make Strawberry Mansion Strawberry Mansion .”

Before the reconstruction, the bridge was a graffiti-covered, deteriorating eyesore. Now, it’s a modern span with brick retaining walls.

“This bridge, I am instructed, was built in 1913, so it was eligible if it were a person for Medicare back in 1978,” said White House Senior Advisor Tom Perez, one of the officials in attendance at the ceremony.

Rebuilding it proved difficult, according to prime contractor Rob Buckley of Buckley and Company, because his crews had to negotiate power lines over the bridge and catenary wires and rail traffic below.

“We do this two hours a night. People don’t realize that over the railroad you get two hours working time, on the average,” he said. “The degree of difficulty, just so you know, this is about a nine.”

The reopening came not a moment too soon for Paul Williams, who lives near the western end of the bridge.

“We purchased this property 30 years ago and the bridge was in horrible condition. And we’ve been waiting 25 years for them to rebuild the bridge,” Williams said, adding it had been three years of detours while the project was underway.

“It means a lot because people had no way of getting from that side over to here other than walking four or five blocks away.”