$45 million later: I-495 bridge closure impact still felt

• May 29 marks a year since I-495 columns were found to be tipping.
• The crossing over the Christina River was closed for repairs.
• It was found that 55%2C000 tons of dirt piled nearby caused the issues.
• Detours caused extensive delays across the region.

Fallout from the closure of I-495 over the Christina River still is being felt in the form of pockmarked roads, legal disputes and sagging profits, a year after it was discovered pillars supporting the crossing were dangerously tipping.

"We were ready to almost close our doors last year," said Les Tronzo, owner of Sports Car Tire Co. on East 13th Street in Wilmington, which was cut off from traffic for weeks during the detour and $45 million construction project. "We're back somewhat in the black, but we're still trying to make up for last year."

Friday marks a year since senior engineer R. David Charles of the Pike Creek firm Duffield Associates was visiting a job site on the Christina River and happened to notice that several I-495 pillars seemed to be tilting. He sent photos to the Delaware Department of Transportation, which ordered a complete shutdown June 2.

The closure between Exits 2 and 3 cut off a key bypass for the East Coast transportation grid, funneling motorists onto detours across nearby roads and causing a far-reaching impact on the interstate network. U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx called the stoppage "a national issue" and the Federal Highway Administration stepped in with $2 million in emergency funds.

President Barack Obama later delivered a speech about infrastructure funding at the Port of Wilmington, within sight of the span.

It was later determined that DelDOT had been notified of the column issues weeks before, and that problems were caused after a contractor had deposited 55,000 tons of dirt near pillars. The shifting earth broke and bent underground supports, slowly tipping piers and both the north and south lanes.

Southbound traffic was rerouted for 60 days as crews worked on repairs. Northbound lanes, which had more serious damage, were rerouted for 83 days. The delays sent commute times skyrocketing.

Margaret Garrison of Newark said it was like rush hour all day. She travels the region for a service that provides medical checks for insurance customers.

"If I had to go up into north Wilmington, I had to plan on an hour drive, versus half an hour," she said.

Herbert Bollman, owner of the F&H Transport truck shop off I-495 and Terminal Avenue, estimates his business was sliced by 20-25 percent because of the closure. The drop in port-related traffic and motorists using I-95 as an alternate hurt, he said.

"When they shut the bridge down, we lost our customers that normally come from Pennsylvania going south immediately," Bollman said.

Truck drivers were upset over lost time, increased fuel costs and inconvenience, he said.

Wilmington resident Howard Laws, whose Eden Park neighborhood is near the I-495 overpass, recalls days of traffic, noise and exhaust surging along New Castle Avenue and nearby streets.

"It caused a lot of road damage, a lot of traffic jam, a lot of commotion," Laws said. "I won't even talk about the pollution that it caused."

DelDOT sees lessons learned in case

Barry Benton, the state Transportation Department chief bridge engineer, said they were very aware of traffic disruptions and the potential economic impact, especially in summertime.

Within days of the shutdown, DelDOT announced plans to shore up the underside of the bridge and repair supports while traffic moved above, instead of building a replacement. The agency launched what would become a massive, on-the-fly fix that would pull in contractors and supplies from around the country.

Engineers also opted for solutions that in hindsight might have been more massive than needed, including huge concrete bases for two damaged sets of piers, Benton said. They also had to comply with federal preferences for design choices.

"We were making some conservative, quick assumptions," he said. "In order to move forward, we were designing it while we were getting information. The [cost of] materials weren't that big a deal, compared to the user costs of what was happening on I-95."

At one point, workers cut holes in the bridge deck so 160-foot steel cages could be lowered in one piece into 4-foot holes drilled under the span, then filled with cement to create a stable base for new supports.

Contractors also were skeptical about drilling 150-foot-deep holes for supports under a bridge with far less clearance. Two drilling companies backed out after examining the challenge.

Port Director Gene Bailey said DelDOT managed to complete the repairs before peak operations resumed, a time when as many as 1,500 vehicles would have been moving in and out of the port gates daily. Only a between-season fruit shipping fall-off prevented the problem from being worse, he said.

"Sometimes you'd rather be lucky than good," Bailey said.

Benton said the experience was a lesson for the agency. He said they adopted reforms to address safety and supervisory shortcomings, and recently shared what was learned at a recent meeting of bridge engineers from all 50 states.

"We explained what we went through, how we fixed it and let them know how processes changed at DelDOT and what they should look at as well," he said.

DelDOT will present a paper on the issue next month at an international conference in Pittsburgh, long known as the "City of Bridges."

Benton said the agency also addressed why the original notification fell on deaf ears. In April 2014, Charles Allen Jr. of Elkton, Maryland, called DelDOT and 911 with worries that the bridge lanes were out of kilter. He uses the crossing to get to his auto body shop in Wilmington.

"I'm just a little concerned," Allen told the DelDOT official, according to a recording. "I mean, it doesn't look right."

Allen's warning and other hints of trouble were treated with skepticism and dismissed. Another call on May 30 also generated no action. An October 2012 inspection of the bridge, built in 1974, found it was in "good condition."

Allen said this week he was satisfied by assurances that DelDOT has improved its reporting system, assuring that hazard calls are taken seriously. But he also said the incident has been "blown out of proportion" by some.

"What kind of aggravates me is, they're saying this is an infrastructure problem, a national big deal," Allen said. "It's a repair. Somebody made a mistake, dumped some dirt and they need to get it resolved."

Charles, the engineer who got a response from DelDOT, credited the agency and contractors with coming up with a smart solution.

"I think it was a great project, an interesting project," he said. "I wish I could have worked on it."

In a twist, Charles said that he worked on a soil-instability project 30 years ago on the north side of the Christina River, after an earthen berm that was enlarged by the Corps of Engineers shifted surrounding ground several feet, affecting utilities.

The Delaware Engineering Society in February named Charles the Delaware Engineer of the Year for spotting the problem. He said Allen deserved credit as well.

Case may still go to court

Negotiations continue between state attorneys and the intertwined businesses associated with the dirt pile: Alma Properties LLC, Port Contractors Inc. and Keogh Contracting Co.

The land is owned by DuPont Co., which leases it to Port Contractors. That firm has an agreement to let Keogh use the property for storage and also has an interest in Alma, which owns land near the site.

Keogh is owned by James B. Thomas Jr., son of a founder of Port Contractors. Thomas did not return a call for this story, but said in June that "I feel very badly about what happened to the bridge."

His father, James Thomas Sr., last month said the companies "know they have a fight on their hands" because of the government lawsuit threats.

DelDOT has hired a national legal firm to represent the agency in negotiations and possibly in court.

Laws, the Eden Park resident, said someone should have noticed the pile of dirt and raised concerns.

"This is what happens in life when you think you can't do any damage," he said. "It's just amazing how the city and county can come and do code enforcement, but never look at stuff like that."

Wilmington has yet to recover from what started a year ago, Tronzo said.

"The roads in the city weren't designed to take the kind of traffic they were getting when tractor-trailers were diverting straight up through," he said. "They still haven't fixed the potholes and damage to the curbs from the tractor-trailers."

Contact Jeff Montgomery at (302) 463-3344 or jmontgomery@delawareonline.com.

BY THE NUMBERS

93,000

Vehicles that travel on Interstate 495 over the Christina River daily

55,000

Weight, in tons, of dirt found piled near support columns

4

Degrees of pillar found to be tipping the most at the crossing

8

Damaged pillars fixed by crews

59

Days I-495 was closed between Exits 2 and 3

45 million

Cost, in dollars, to repair interstate