Karl Baker

The News Journal

Two westbound lanes on the Delaware Memorial Bridge will close Tuesday between 5 a.m. and 8 p.m. as work crews replace the vertical rows of wire rope that connect the bridge deck with the main suspension cable.

It's the second significant closure this year on the four-lane westbound span, which connects the Interstate 295 lanes in Delaware and New Jersey. In April, emergency work on the bridge cables required three lanes to close for three days causing gridlock that stretched for miles into New Jersey. The Delaware River and Bay Authority, which manages operations on the bridge, reported that it lost more than $200,000 in toll revenue due to the April closure.

Tuesday's closure is a continuation of the April project, said DRBA spokesman Jim Salmon, but he does not expect significant commuter delays during the work. Fewer vehicles use the bridge on Tuesdays than any other day, he said.

"We wanted to do it when traffic was at a reduced clip," Salmon said.

If high winds or heavy rain storms delay the work, it will be postponed until Wednesday, the DRBA said in a statement.

The highway carries an average of 45,000 vehicles daily in both directions. The Delaware Memorial Bridge is the most southern span on the Delaware River. The nearest bridge across the body of water is at Chester, Pennsylvania.

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Bridge contractor Cornell and Company, Inc. is performing the work to replace the wire rope connectors. The cables were installed when the 3,650-foot-long bridge was built in 1968. Two bridge lanes will close again on June 14 and June 21 as the work resumes.

"The work is being completed as quickly as possible," the DRBA said in a statement.

Farther west on I-295, DRBA contractors are in the midst of a $34 million multi-year project to rebuild and reconfigure lanes and smaller bridges on the highway.

Contact Karl Baker at kbaker@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2329. Follow him on Twitter @kbaker6.