PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — After being shut down for rehabilitation work over the past two years, the Martin Luther King Jr. Drive Bridge over the Schuylkill River will reopen to vehicular traffic at 7 a.m. on Monday.
Mayor Cherelle Parker participated in a ceremonial ribbon-cutting for the 700-foot bridge and is among those who are super excited about the reopening.
"So get ready on Monday morning to drive the drive, and I'm coming this way just because…,” Parker said.
She added that the revitalized bridge reconnects West Philadelphia with Center City.
"I don't care if you walk, if you bike, or if you drive this bridge; it gives you another way for commuting, and it means options for us that give us alternatives to be able to travel in a way that is accommodating for our respective lives,” Parker said.
The bridge deck is wider and now includes three lanes for vehicles and a 10.5-foot shared-use path for runners, walkers, and cyclists that connects to the MLK Drive trail.
Philadelphia Streets Commissioner Kristin Del Rossi highlighted the scale of the work.
“This team accomplished the reconstruction of a 60-year-old bridge in two years. They worked over the river year-round, carefully removing the old deck, repairing 40 tons of existing structural steel, and built the beautiful bridge deck you see today. This bridge is 700 feet long, 50 feet wide, and contains 158 tons of rebar and over 2,000 tons of concrete,” Del Rossi said.
The $20 million Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive Bridge Rehabilitation Project was fully funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Bridge Formula Program.
With all of the machinery and equipment removed from under the bridge, Overbrook Park resident Veronica Walker said she can park behind the Philadelphia Museum of Art and gain easy access to trails. Something she wasn't able to do for the past two years.
"Voila, there it is. All finished pretty and new, and now I can park and walk right around and be right up on MLK,” she said.