After 11 weeks of fast-track repairs, the Delaware Dept. of Transportation's emergency design and construction team reopened northbound lanes of the I-495 bridge in Wilmington on Aug. 23. The work allowed both sides of the 4,800-ft-long structure to be fully operational in time for the expected crush of Labor Day weekend traffic.
The 40-year-old concrete-deck-on-steel-beam bridge, which typically carries about 90,000 vehicles a day, was closed on June 2, when an inspection discovered four of its 37 support piers were as much as 4° out of vertical alignment. DelDOT believes a 50,000-ton mound of dirt stockpiled nearby created lateral subsurface pressure on the pilings, tilting the 50-ft hammerhead piers.