Tinicum supervisors say the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation will maintain the Golden Pheasant Inn Bridge’s current curved design when it comes time to rebuild the River Road span over the Delaware Canal.
The issue came up in the public comment portion of the April supervisors meeting.
Resident Cindi Gasparre asked for an update regarding the design since it had been five months since the Nov. 22, 2023 Section 106 consulting parties meeting. Section 106 requires federal agencies to consider the effects on historic properties of projects they carry out, fund, permit, license or approve.
Supervisor John Cole reported that he received a comprehensive update on April 2 from PennDOT Project Manager Brian Rasiul, and it had some encouraging news on the bridge’s status.
Cole stated that based upon the considerable community input and pushback received in the November meeting, PennDOT had decided to reconstruct the curved bridge as it is versus further pursuing the straightened bridge design they had previously favored.
The agency has begun an “alternative analysis” of the Golden Pheasant Bridge project to figure out how to redesign their plans to rehabilitate the historic curved bridge structure. No timelines were presented at the meeting.
“(T)hey will be executing what we call an ‘embellished rehab’ with several improvements to avoid perpetual logjams such as adding stop lights to allow one-way-at-a-time traffic flow and moving existing vehicle stop lines back somewhat,” Cole reported. “This will allow trucks that pull up to the new lights a chance to move over to the other lane and navigate their vehicle around the bridge structure. With trailers up to 48 feet, trucks need that latitude to avoid hitting the bridge — as they have been doing perpetually for years now.”
The 92-year-old bridge was closed in mid-December after several tractor trailers struck the span, leading PennDOT to determine a “structural collapse” was possible due to the damage.
After emergency repairs, the span, which PennDOT estimates is used by 2,600 vehicles per day, reopened in Feb. 23. It gets its name from the nearby historic Golden Pheasant Inn that faces the Delaware River.
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