Design work begins for major I-80 Delaware Water Gap toll-bridge and Oak Street upgrades
Design work is beginning on a planned package of bridge, roadway and maintenance-facility improvements centered on the Delaware Water Gap I-80 Toll Bridge in Delaware Water Gap Borough, Monroe County.
The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission awarded French & Parrello Associates, P.A. a professional-services contract with a not-to-exceed value of $2,048,386.79 at its June 28, 2026, meeting. The action advances engineering and planning; physical construction has not started.
Two construction packages are planned
According to the commission, the designs are expected to be divided into two construction procurements. One package is anticipated to go out for bid in early 2027 and a second in mid-2027. The commission describes construction as occurring during 2027 and 2028, but those dates remain anticipated rather than guaranteed.
The first package would include spall repairs, new parapets and resurfacing on the two-lane Oak Street overpass that crosses I-80. It also would include repair, cleaning and sealing work on the toll bridge deck and replacement of the toll bridge’s highway-lighting electrical-supply system.
Oak Street overpass is owned by PennDOT
The Oak Street structure is owned by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, not the toll-bridge commission. The commission says it plans to improve the overpass partly so it can better serve a nearby commission-owned maintenance site on the northern side of I-80.
That site consists of five parcels totaling 3.69 acres purchased by the commission in 2023 for expanded maintenance and winter-storm-response operations. The available records do not yet specify traffic-control plans, lane restrictions, detours or exact construction dates for Oak Street.
New salt, equipment and fueling facilities
The second planned package would address the commission’s operational facilities in the borough. The concept includes a salt-storage building, magnesium-chloride tanks, a brine-mixing station and an approximately 8,400-square-foot vehicle and equipment storage building.
Other planned elements include a covered vehicle-fueling area, fuel-management equipment, electronic security and site controls, work at the existing administration building and related upgrades such as lighting protection, paging, waste removal and heating systems. These remain planned design elements rather than final construction approvals.
The design contract also includes fuel-dispensing and fuel-management systems for commission vehicles at three other bridges: the Easton-Phillipsburg Route 22 Toll Bridge, the Portland-Columbia Toll Bridge and the Milford-Montague Toll Bridge. Those separate locations are not part of the Delaware Water Gap local construction scope described here.
Construction-management solicitation is expected later in 2026
The commission’s current procurement schedule lists construction-management and inspection services for the Delaware Water Gap Toll Bridge Buildings and Roadway Improvements Project as an anticipated fourth-quarter 2026 solicitation. The listing describes work involving the salt-storage building, vehicle-storage building, administration building, Oak Street overpass deck, I-80 highway lighting and sealing of the two Delaware River crossing structures.
The schedule is a procurement forecast, not a guarantee that construction will begin on a particular date. The commission’s July 9 announcement identifies early and mid-2027 as the anticipated timing for the two construction procurements.
Bridge carries about 49,800 vehicles daily
The commission’s traffic-count record shows an annual average daily traffic volume of 49,800 vehicles on the Delaware Water Gap I-80 Toll Bridge in 2025. That figure applies to the toll bridge, not to Oak Street or Delaware Water Gap Borough as a whole.
The volume helps explain why future bridge-deck, lighting and maintenance work could matter to regional commuters, freight operators and local access. However, the current records do not establish final construction costs, permits, borough coordination arrangements or the traffic-management measures that may be needed during construction.
For now, the documented change is the move from project planning into design procurement. The next public milestones are expected to include the construction-management solicitation and later construction procurements, subject to the commission’s final schedules and approvals.
Sources
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