Center Deck Reconstruction Progressing on Viaduct
Summer 2020 – Rehabilitation and reconstruction of the center section of the U.S. 1/Roosevelt Expressway viaduct over SEPTA and Philadelphia’s Nicetown neighborhood is progressing this summer and heading toward completion this fall and a shift to Stage 2 construction on the southbound side.
Work on this project is being done in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and state Department of Health guidance as well as a project-specific COVID-19 safety plan, which will include protocols for social distancing, use of face coverings, personal and job-site cleaning protocols, management of entries to the jobsite, special signing, and relevant training.
With the new concrete deck in place on the northern half of the long structure’s median area, crews are working north-to-south systematically repairing, repainting, and re-decking the remainder of the viaduct’s middle section under the first major stage of the project.
Work on the top side is proceeding in tandem with painters on the underside of the viaduct who have removed the existing paint from the entire structure and are placing a primer coat on the refurbished steel members. A finish coating will be applied to the entire underside of the structure during the final stage of the project.
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 neighborhoods have been refurbished.
In addition to the viaduct, painting of the structural steel on the Fox Street bridge over the expressway south of the viaduct has finished. A water main carried under and adjacent to the overpass remains to be relocated prior to repairs to the bridge being completed.
When topside median work finishes on the viaduct in mid-October with a new concrete deck in place in the center of the highway, the project will advance to the next two stages of construction to rehabilitate the southbound side of the viaduct. Stage 2 and Stage 3 will take approximately 15 months to finish before work moves to the northbound side of the viaduct for Stage 4 construction in the fall of 2022.
The Cayuga Street on-ramp to southbound U.S. 1/Roosevelt Expressway remains closed. It was closed and detoured 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 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.