Like building a road through a giant beehive, PennDOT, design partner Benesch and contractors like Buckley Construction are repairing aging infrastructure in central Philadelphia.
The work is being done in a hornet's nest of daily activity in Center City and nearby, which includes famous universities like Ivy League school Penn, engineering powerhouse Drexel, along with the former U.S. Post Office Main Branch (now home to the IRS), and the iconic 30th Street Railway Station, one of the busiest in the country.
The PennDOT team is aware of this busy chunk of the city and the necessity of keeping the infrastructure safe and functioning well. The current $150 million project, the last of four major PennDOT bridge projects in the area, embraces a little bit of everything from bridge rebuilding to paving to tunnel repair to river embankment work to utility relocations.
"People are all around, all the time," said Chad Lavallee, Buckley's project engineer. "Fortunately, we have worked with the stakeholders around here many times and know how to keep people safe while working in confined spaces and helping everyone carry on their normal activities."
One of the centerpieces of the project is the historic Market Street Bridge restoration.
"It's complicated," Lavallee said. "One of the first steps will be for the team to make some 400 saw cuts in the concrete on the bridge using a Vermeer rock wheel and two wire saws. Then, we will use a grapple to pick up each concrete section. Other deck sections will be removed by workers hand chipping away with 30-pound hammers to preserve the historic balustrades and other decorative elements. The spandrel walls will stay in place."
The concrete encased steel arch bridge has been used for approximately 100 years. After removing most of the concrete inner shell, workers will repair the steel bridge underneath before replacing joints and the concrete deck and sidewalks. The arch bridge deck will be reconfigured to incorporate a two-way separated bike lane over the Schuylkill River.
The Walnut Street Bridge also will be the recipient of Buckley's work team. Located within reach of Phillies' baseball star Kyle Schwarber's tape-measure home runs, Buckley will work on both bridges at the same time. Workers at this bridge will repair bearings, replace expansion joints, pour latex over the concrete deck to prevent deterioration and apply fresh asphalt to the approach roadway. Walnut Street's bike lane also will be reconfigured to include parking protection, a safety upgrade.
By carefully juggling schedules, work crews and equipment, Buckley, as the supervising contractor, is accomplishing the extraordinary on this buzzing piece of infrastructure. At the top level, the contractor and workers are keeping traffic flowing on Market and Walnut Street bridges while installing new utility ducts critical for future stages of work. At the bottom level, underneath the Schuylkill River, workers are making repairs to the SEPTA (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority) tunnels. Their work includes restoring tunnel armament at the riverbed, repairing leaks in the concrete and strengthening steel supports.
One Million Visitors
Keeping their eyes on the clock and the calendar, project planners will halt their work mid-stride to make room for the guests who will be flooding into the city for the World Cup festivities in the summer. The matches will be played between June 14 and July 4, 2026, and are expected to draw approximately one million visitors to the city. The matches also will overlap the 250th birthday celebration of the United States in Philadelphia.
When roadwork resumes in fall of 2026, contractors will work on the Market Street and Schuylkill Avenue intersection bridge replacement with the Schuylkill Expressway (Interstate 76) often roaring underneath.
Due to the high traffic volumes on the interstate, PennDOT's contract will only allow the contractor to use weekend closures with detours.
"The workers will place the bridges over five weekends, using a 350-ton crane to get the work done," said Joe Sirignano of Benesch. "During the closures of I-76, Buckley's team will be demolishing sections of the old bridge and inserting the new precast units into place."
This part of the project will be complicated, requiring precision cooperation between workers, contractors and equipment. The team will be required to complete the night's work in time to reopen for traffic on Monday mornings.
Bridge replacement over CSX tracks and the Schuylkill River Trail also are on the horizon for this project. Buckley will coordinate work with CSX to deliver precast bridge units for placement over the railroad double tracks.
"The new bridge will have more vertical space than the old bridge, allowing the possibility of CSX to run taller trains," said Sirignano.
In addition to taking care of trains and automobiles, the PennDOT planning team and contractors will be helping bicyclers and walkers. The Schuylkill River Trail, one of the most popular in the country, parallels the river and carries college students and enthusiastic exercisers along this scenic pathway. The shared-use path will receive approximately $2 million in upgrades, including repairs of river bulkheads, staircases, and scour holes.
"We are also thankful for the city and state police as well as the Coast Guard, who will assist with managing traffic and keeping our work zones safe on the highways and in the river," said Sirignano.
