by KYW's Mike Dunn and Mike DeNardo
A few intrepid bicyclists took one last, frigid ride on Friday morning across the old South Street Bridge. After years of dangerous decay, the old bridge is being shut down for good -- to cars, bicycles, even pedestrians -- and over the next two years a new and improved bridge will go up in its place.
The closure began after Monday morning's rush hour, approximately 10am. The ramps on and off the Schuylkill Expressway were closed first, to be followed by the east-west bridge that links center city with West Philadelphia.
The bridge in its current form lasted 85 years, and its closure comes not a moment too soon. City officials will demolish and then completely rebuild the bridge, which in recent years has been crumbling and was declared off limits to heavier vehicles.
The debate over replacing the bridge last two decades, and the cost of the project doubled in recent years to the current price tag of $67 million, mostly federal dollars.
Rina Cutler, deputy mayor for transportation, is just relieved that the bridge stayed up while the debate dragged on:
"You can just see from the bridge itself, that it wasn't going to be functional for much longer. We could not, because of the weight restriction, have put plows on the bridge if it snowed."
Cutler expects any new gridlock to be short-lived:
"We expect, other than special events that may occur at Penn, most people within the first week or two who will regularly drive the route will find an alternate way."
The main alternate routes are the Chestnut and Walnut Street bridges.
Cutler says don't worry about gridlock, be happy a new bridge is on its way:
"We think we're going to have a great project, and two years from now we're expecting to have a great bridge in place for the next 75 years."
More information on the $67 million makeover is at http://potholes.phila.gov/southstreetbridge.
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(Photo #1 by KYW's Mike DeNardo. File photo #2 by KYW's Tony Hanson)
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