Nearly 100 people attend DelDOT hearing on Old Furnace Road bridge

Ninety-nine people crowded into the cafeteria at Seaford Middle School late in the afternoon of Feb. 18, looking for answers about what is going to happen to the 106-year-old bridge on Old Furnace Road near the intersection with Middleford Road in Seaford. Many left feeling as frustrated as when they arrived, particularly when there was no time allotted for questions from the audience with answers everyone could hear.

Bridge 3-237, according to the Delaware Department of Transportation, is currently rated in “fair” condition. DelDOT is “nervous” about safety issues, Bill Geschrei, project manager from design engineers Whitman, Requardt & Associates LLP, said after the meeting. “DelDOT does not want to leave the bridge in service,” he added.

According to a handout, however, “extensive testing and analysis recently completed by DelDOT confirmed that the existing bridge can safely carry all legal loads at this time.” Limiting truck traffic on Old Furnace Road, as some residents would prefer, “would lead to an undesirable increase in truck traffic on surrounding local roads.”

The bridge is a 56-foot long concrete arch built in 1919. The existing structure is showing significant deterioration and nearing its useful service life. The age of the bridge is not service life compatible with a new widening section on one or both sides.

Neighbors of the bridge commented that no service has been done on the bridge for the past 35 to 40 years. Problems cited include exposed and heavily corroded reinforcement, delamination of the concrete, a one-eighth inch crack, active water leakage after rains, and a dilapidated soffit.

DelDOT does not want to use any part of the original bridge, Geschrei said. “They don’t trust it.” Encapsulating it would lose the historic nature of the bridge. Using the existing bridge as a fishing pier is not feasible.

The bridge was designed by the Luten Bridge Company and described in Luten’s company catalogs as a “Highway Bridge of Plain Design.” It is one of four such bridges in Delaware.

The bridge is currently eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places and will require coordination under Section 106 requirements. Such a listing would not stop the project but would require mitigating loss of additional historical resources in the area. An archeological survey will be completed prior to construction and Indian tribes, including the Nanticoke tribe, and other interested parties will be consulted.

“We are just at the beginning,” attendees were told. “It is clear this is an important area.”

Concern was expressed about the amount of time that a detour would be necessary, estimated to be six months. It is not possible to keep one lane open during construction. Residents recalled that they were told to expect six months for replacement of the nearby timber bridge in 2000 but they were detoured for 18 months. It was explained, “What held up the old wooden bridge was that people were not involved early enough.”

For this bridge, the first public meeting was held June 24, 2024. After that meeting, the scope of the project was reduced, eliminating — for now — a possible round-about at the intersection of Old Furnace Road and Middleford Road which might have been installed at the same time. Previously programmed for the summer of 2028, the project is now expected to be completed in 2030. 

Goals of the project include cost-effectiveness, although no cost estimates were given at the meeting for any of the potential designs. Funding is with federal dollars, so the bridge must meet federal requirements. 

An additional goal is to minimize impacts to adjacent properties. Residents were told the bridge is not a water-control structure, but the river is tidal and at times — especially during three 100-year flood events in this century — flooding does occur.

The favored option is a precast arch with two 11-foot lanes plus 6-foot shoulders on each side that will serve as bicycle lanes. The profile will change as little as possible. The underside of the new arch will be 0.04 feet lower than the existing arch, which is “virtually no change.”

The other options are both rectangular box beam structures, either of which would also minimize any potential adverse impact on the stream or neighboring properties.

The project website is https://de.gov/OldFurnaceRoad. Questions may be directed to 800-652-5600 or by email to DO***@******re.gov.