PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — PennDOT is starting a bridge rehabilitation project that will squeeze traffic along City Avenue for more than a year and a half.
Beginning Wednesday, Oct. 1, City Avenue will be reduced from two lanes to one in each direction between Bryn Mawr Avenue and 47th Street. Traffic will remain restricted for 20 months.
“It will start this week and last until early June of 2027, with multiple phases,” PennDOT Community Relations Coordinator Helen Reinbrecht told KYW Newsradio.
The $22 million project will rehab the 114-year-old bridge and carry traffic over SEPTA’s Regional Rail tracks near the Bala Station.
“What’s being done is repair work, repairs to the arch bridge and the sidewalk structures, replacing some of those existing utility lines on the bridge,” Reinbrecht said.
The work will take a while, but Reinbrecht said drivers will be able to get to businesses along the way.
“Local access must be maintained for all residents and businesses,” she said. “Again, we are only closing one lane so that cars can get through.”
This same half-mile section of City Avenue saw similar lane closures for a month in March. Twelve thousand vehicles use that stretch of road each day.