Scudder Falls Bridge - Improvement Project

Improvement Project

Since 2003, the Bridge Commission has been working on plans to replace the bridge, improve the safety and traffic flow of its two immediately adjoining interchanges (Taylorsville Road in Pennsylvania and Route 29 in New Jersey), and widen the Pennsylvania stretch of I-95 leading to and from the bridge (from two lanes to three lanes). The project is necessary because the current configurations of the bridge, interchanges and roadways suffer from numerous inadequacies. At the present time, the bridge consists of a roadway 48 feet (15 m) wide, split into four twelve-foot lanes. Opposing traffic is separated by a Jersey barrier. Current design standards call for, at minimum, the addition of an inside shoulder 3 feet (0.91 m) wide (adding 6 feet (1.8 m) to its current width) and an outside shoulder 12 feet (3.7 m) wide (adding 24 feet (7.3 m) to its current width). The closely spaced interchanges on both ends of the bridge require the addition of acceleration and decelaration lanes (the Commission refers to them as "auxiliary lanes"), of which there are currently none.

According to the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission's 2002 Southerly Crossings Corridor Study, Scudders Fall Bridge carries roughly 55,000 vehicles per day (traffic counts have increased since then), well beyond the design load of 40,000 vehicles per day. By 2030, traffic volumes are expected to increase by 35%, the equivalent of 19,000 additional vehicles. This amount of traffic would require two to perhaps four additional travel lanes (24 to perhaps 48 additional feet of roadway width). According to the project's Environmental Assessment, the new bridge will have two additional through-travel lanes, resulting in a total of six through lanes (three in each direction).

Also mentioned by the 2002 study is that Scudder Falls Bridge has been given a Level of Service (LOS) grade of "F" during peak rush hours and afternoons. This grade denotes the worst service conditions and the highest congestion rate. In short, the current structure, while structurally sufficient, is functionally obsolete, and requires major expansion or replacement. At times other than brief rush hour delays, traffic traveling the bridge is relatively light.

Construction is scheduled to begin in 2011 and take three to four years to complete. The bridge will be widened to between 130 and 140 feet (43 m).

The bridge would consist of six through-travel lanes and three auxilarly lanes (two in the northbound direction and one in the southbound direction) to handle traffic accelerating onto the bridge or decelerating off of the bridge at the two closely spaced adjoining interchanges. The envisioned bridge also would have shoulders to handle vehicle breakdowns and emergencies, with the two inside shoulders being wide enough to handle proposed regional bus-rapid transit service. The Commission also has expressed interest in adding a bicycle/pedestrian facility to the new bridge, but has a stated that a decision on this will not be made until the final design phase.

To help finance this multi-faceted improvement project, the Commission voted in late December 2009 to establish tolling at the crossing.

Commission officials have stated that tolls would be collected in the southbound direction with an all-electronic tolling, or "cashless tolling" gantry consisting of E-ZPass transponder readers and high-resolution cameras (no cash toll booths) constructed on the bridge. (All of the toll bridges along the Delaware River collect tolls in either the southbound or westbound directions—going from New Jersey to Pennsylvania.)

Commission officials have not yet established a date for when these tolls would take effect.

The Delaware River Joint Toll Commission has stated that the introduction of cashless tolling at the bridge is necessary to help finance its capital program, of which the multi-faceted Scudder Falls Bridge Replacement Project would be its largest single construction initiative in its 75-year history. The Commission is funded solely by tolls collected at its seven current toll bridges; it receives no gasoline tax revenues or state or federal support. Commission executives have stated that it would be unfair to have the project financed solely by motorists using its other toll bridges, individuals who have been subsidizing the Scudder Falls facility already for more than two decades.