South Street Bridge to open Nov. 6

After nearly two years of construction, a major passage between West Philadelphia and Center City will reopen. On Nov. 6 construction on the South Street Bridge will be complete.

The bridge, which passes over the Schuylkill River from 27th Street to Convention Avenue, closed Dec. 8, 2008 to be completely demolished and rebuilt in a $67-million project.

David Perri, chief engineer for surveys and design for the Philadelphia Streets Department, said in an e-mail that only the weight-bearing “piles and bases of the two river piers” remain from the original structure.

The project entails construction of a new bridge structure, roadway and viaduct. While the bridge and its connecting roads will open to the public at 3 p.m. on Nov. 6, construction on four decorative towers will carry on after the reopening, Perri wrote.

Once complete, four lantern-like towers with frosted glass and stainless steel will each contain a multi-color, programmable LED light display. Underneath the towers will be observation decks for pedestrians to look out over the river.

Jim Campbell, president of the South Street Bridge Coalition, said the bridge will now be “more bike-and-pedestrian friendly.” Philadelphians worked with the city to advocate a safer design than the bridge’s predecessor, he added.

As a group of community leaders and associations such as the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, the South Street Bridge Coalition made formal revisionary recommendations regarding the bridge’s design in April 2008.

The new structure contains a complete lighting system mounted on the sidewalks, a 25-mile-per-hour speed limit, wide bicycle lanes and four lanes for car traffic.

The reconstruction has been financed 80 percent by federal funds, 15 percent by the state and 5 percent by the city.

The bridge reopening will change traffic flow, Campbell said the reopening will allow easier access to Franklin Field and the Penn Museum, both located near the west side of the bridge.

Additionally, because the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania is also near the bridge, the change in infrastructure will allow for shortened trips for ambulances, fire trucks and other emergency response vehicles.

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