While official word from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is that the St. Georges Bridge on Route 13 over the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal will be closed from September 10th through January for repairs, rumors from within DelDot indicate that the bridge owners have no plans for reopening the bridge to vehicle traffic.
Since Tuesday when it closed, and no construction or survey crews have been seen on the span, questions began to swirl about the construction timetable. The Army Corps awarded a $3.7 million contract to Freyssinet, Inc. for “steel beam repairs” but that money is actually going toward converting the bridge to pedestrian/cyclist traffic after engineering studies disclose that the bridge is unfixable.
This stealthy closure appears to be intended to head off the kind of backlash DelDot endured when it announced plans to close the bridge when the Rt1, William V. Roth bridge opened in 1995.