Jeff Montgomery

The News Journal

Agency officials already have pushed back 49 major projects totaling about %24600 million.

More than half the state's 1%2C600 bridges are 40 years old or more%2C and showing signs of their age

Lack of new money also set up a %2430 million annual shortfall in the agency's %24200 million "state of good repair" budget

Urgent interstate bridge repair needs threaten to put a new squeeze on DelDOT's major project budget, already crunched by General Assembly rejection of a gas tax hike and borrowing plan earlier this year, Transportation Secretary Shailen Bhatt said late Wednesday.

"The cupboard is pretty bare, and the needs are increasing," Bhatt said after briefing the state's Council on Transportation on the funding outlook and proposed six-year capital program update.

The problems will be reflected a draft Capital Improvement Program six-year budget set for public hearings in late September, with more major projects likely to join an already long list of delayed work.

DelDOT spending in the next year is expected to fall to $355.3 million, down from $485.9 million this year, with the total dropping to $296.4 million by 2021 without infusions of new money.

At the same time, engineers are wrestling with ways to cover an estimated $160 million tab over the next 10 years just to fix accelerating deterioration of major interstate spans, including the I-95 Brandywine Creek bridge and the Wilmington Viaduct.

A passing truck recently popped a cantaloupe-size chunk of concrete out of the Brandywine bridge deck, forcing an emergency closing for repairs.

Serious concrete loss and corrosion also have turned up along stretches of the viaduct taking I-95 through Wilmington. Somespans over the interstate at Del. 141 have similar problems.

"This is the thing that gave us a competitive [national] advantage in the 20th Century," Bhatt said while hefting the concrete chunk from the Brandywine bridge. He added later: "The good news is, we have another shot to make our case" for increased state funding.

Some of the interstate troubles became more obvious recently as heavy traffic loads shifted to I-95 during the nearly summer-long shutdown of I-495 for repairs to a bridge ust south of the Christina River.

"It's not necessarily going to affect next year, but in terms of our six-year plan, things we had [planned] to do in 2016 and 2017 are going to have to be pushed out, because we've got to do this bridge work, too," Bhatt said.

Another $20 million will be needed to fix smaller buried drainage pipes under roads, many in Kent and Sussex County, where weakening is often hidden until a big storm triggers a failure and washout.

Lack of new money also set up a $30 million annual shortfall in the $200 million "state of good repair" budget, an amount calculated to keep current pavement, bridge and equipment needs from worsening.

Statewide, more than half the state's 1,600 bridges are 40 years old or more, and showing signs of their age, DelDOT Chief Engineer Robert B. McCleary said.

Interstate requirements will be come a "big dollar item," with officials having to make hard choices between lower-cost, status quo repairs or spending aimed at meeting future travel needs.

"The cost is going to be higher, the impact to the public is going to be higher," McCleary said. "It's not like doing work out on rural roads somewhere."

Agency officials already have pushed back 49 major projects totaling about $600 million, some moves taken after lawmakers balked at hiking the state's gas tax by 10-cents a gallon and approving a five-year, $50 million annual borrowing plan. The setbacks included widening of Del. 1 from Tybouts Corner to Del. 273, with officials now considering stopgap solutions to ease congestion.

"Instead of waiting to widen to three lanes, we're looking to see if there's a way for us to do what they do in Virginia," Bhatt said, "and use a shoulder at peak times. It's not cheap, but it's not a $100 million price for full widening of the road."

Only ahandful of major projects are now set to go out for bids during the current fiscal year, including work on ramps at the busy Del. 141-I-95 interchange, a new east-west connector road in Dover, the Del. 1 interchange at Thompsonville Road north of Milford and high-priority intersection safety improvements in Sussex County.

Contact Jeff Montgomery at 463-3344 or jmontgomery@delawareonline.com