Center Deck Reconstruction, Underside Repairs Continue
Winter 2019/2020 — Rehabilitation and reconstruction of the U.S. 1/Roosevelt Expressway viaduct in North Philadelphia continues to progress as weather permits this winter. Crews working from north-to-south are removing sections of existing pavement, and refurbishing the exposed steel components before placing the new concrete deck for the middle section of the long structure that runs between the Wissahickon Avenue/Germantown Avenue and Broad Street exits of the expressway.
Crews on the top side continue working in tandem with painters on the underside of the viaduct who are removing the existing paint and placing a primer coat on the steel members.
Shielding, which provides a platform for underside repairs and painting and prevents construction debris from falling to the ground, is now in place under the entire structure. The shielding is enclosed during cleaning and repainting of the steel components. An industrial vacuum system prevents dust from the repair and painting operations from entering the air.
Repairs also continue on dozens of concrete columns that support the half-mile long structure that carries traffic over Germantown Avenue, Wayne Avenue, and other streets in the Nicetown neighborhood.
When topside median work finishes late next summer with a new concrete deck in place, southbound traffic will be split — with one lane using the southbound shoulder and one lane in the rebuilt median — while crews begin repairs to the southbound side of the viaduct. That operation will take approximately fifteen months to finish before work moves to the northbound side of the viaduct in late 2021.
The Cayuga Street on-ramp to the southbound U.S. 1/Roosevelt Expressway remains closed. It was closed and detoured earlier in 2019 to allow two lanes of southbound traffic to move through the work area uninterrupted by the merge of on-ramp traffic during repairs to the viaduct.
Current construction is in Stage 1 of six stages of repairs being completed under a $90 million contract to rehabilitate the 2,587-foot-long viaduct.
The entire project is scheduled to be completed in 2023.