2 weeks Ago By Greg Vellner
Failing mortar and loose stones on piers that support 140-year-old Calhoun Street Bridge over the Delaware River between Morrisville and Trenton NJ will be repaired over the next two months, but vehicular and pedestrian traffic on the span should not be impacted, it was announced. The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission, operator of the bridge, said a recent inspection determined the needed masonry work. “The need to repair the bridge pier’s stonework is the result of biennial inspections required by federal law,” said the bridge commission.
“The work will take place on the river.” Calhoun Bridge is the second of four commission bridges scheduled to undergo masonry repairs to “failing mortar and loose stones in their respective 19th-century in-river piers,” said the commission. Recently completed was work determined to be most urgent of the four spans — the Lumberville-Raven Rock Pedestrian Bridge from Solebury to Delaware Township NJ.
That work began in July. Next up is Calhoun Street, then masonry repairs on Washington Crossing Bridge and Riverton-Belvidere Bridge. The bridge piers date back to the 19th century – Washington Crossing at 1833-34; Riverton-Belvidere at 1835-36; Lumberville-Raven Rock at 1853-55, and Calhoun at 1859-60.
The piers are rubble-filled with stone-filled timber-crib foundations, said the commission. The bridge commission, a self-supporting agency that receives no state of federal funding, operates eight toll bridges and 12 toll-supported bridges..
