Severe Traffic Expected In Scudder Falls Single-Lane Restriction

LOWER MAKEFIELD, PA — Evening commuters should expect severe backups and delays Wednesday evening approaching the Scudder Falls Toll Bridge on I-295 northbound, according to an announcement from the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission.

Pennsylvania-bound I-295 will be reduced to a single lane, as opposed to its normal three, for an uninterrupted "high-intensity construction cycle" lasting around 37 hours until around 8 a.m. on Thursday.

The single travel lane will begin shortly after Exit 75 at the Bear Tavern Road interchange in Ewing, and continue across the bridge, ending near Dolington Road overpass in Lower Makefield.

The most severe congestion is expected to occur on Wednesday between 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Traffic lines of two miles or more are likely, with corresponding travel days of an hour or more, according to a news release.

Due to these possible conditions, the Commission is encouraging affected Pennsylvania-bound commuters to postpone their travel or use the Trenton-Morrisville Toll Bridge as a travel alternative during Wednesday evening’s peak driving period.

The rare around-the-clock single-lane travel pattern is needed so work crews can apply the final asphalt surface to the left and center lanes of I-295 northbound on the bridge’s New Jersey side and I-295 westbound on the bridge’s Pennsylvania side. Diamond grinding of the upstream bridge’s polyester-polymer concrete surface also will take place during the continuous closure period, the commission reported.

The work is among a series of intensified construction activities now taking place so that the Scudder Falls Bridge Replacement Project can reach substantial completion in mid-December.

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