This article has been updated Oct. 14 with comments from the Creamery at St. Georges.
Delawareans traveling through New Castle County can expect some smoother traffic flow starting this Friday, Oct. 11.
After 18 months of closure for major repairs to the bridge deck and other features, the St. Georges Bridge is reopening at 11 a.m.
Local businesses are likely to get a boost from the reopening.
Ben Rizzo, co-owner of the Creamery at St.Georges, estimates the business lost about $8,000-$10,000 during the time of the bridge’s closure.
“After it reopened, I had some people coming in who live right across the bridge in South St. Georges, saying that because the bridge was closed, they didn’t want to take the long way around to come over to see it,” he said, “so they actually stopped in for the first time since the bridge just reopened.”
He hopes the opened bridge will bring the business back to life.
Although the $8,000-$10,000 doesn’t sound like a lot, Rizzo said in the ice cream business, it’s definitely impactful, and he aims to recoup the lost revenue now that it’s easier to access his shop.
St. Georges Bridge traffic
“Before the bridge closed for this project, it carried nearly 11,000 vehicles across the canal daily on average,” said C.R. McLeod, director of community relations for the Delaware Department of Transportation.
Almost $47 million went into the project to improve the structural condition and traveling surface of the St. Georges Bridge. The contractor was J.D. Eckman, Inc.
The existing bridge deck was demolished and rebuilt into a new concrete deck with a median barrier, steel railing, fencing, expansion joints, and seals.
Work also involved replacing the north and south approach slabs and roadways of the bridge originally built in 1941.
“Having it reopened provides another needed connection across the canal both for local traffic and as a detour route should there be an incident on one of the other area bridges causing travel delays,” McLeod said.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and several legislators will hold a reopening ceremony Friday morning.
“We’ve seen more congestion during peak travel times across the Roth Bridge since the closure and expect to see that reduced with the reopening of St. Georges,” McLeod said.
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Raised in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, Jarek earned a B.A. in journalism and a B.A. in political science from Temple University in 2021. After running CNN’s Michael Smerconish’s YouTube channel, Jarek became a reporter for the Bucks County Herald before joining Delaware LIVE News.
Jarek can be reached by email at [email protected] or by phone at (215) 450-9982. Follow him on Twitter @jarekrutz
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