SOUTH JERSEY

Ben Franklin Bridge bike ramp delayed

Carol Comegno
@CarolComegno
John Boyle of Edgewater Park, a member of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, walks his bike up the steps to the Ben Franklin Bridge from the Camden side in 2016. A proposed bike and handicap ramp would make bridge access much easier for riders and pedestrians.

CAMDEN - Plans to build a bicycle and handicap ramp onto the Ben Franklin Bridge are being delayed, officials said Wednesday.

Construction bids recently received by the Delaware River Port Authority were double the estimated project cost of $4 million.

The DRPA had planned to open the ramp onto the Camden side of the bridge in 2018.

DRPA surveys bridge and PATCO users

DRPA officials said Wednesday that rejecting the bids will the delay the plan to replace the stairway with a ramp.

DRPA Chief Engineer Michael Venuto said the authority has hired a new consulting engineer to help explore possible design changes that would lower the construction cost. The authority board would have to approve a redesign and then rebid the project.

The project is included in the pending DRPA 2017 capital plan of $159 million, which the finance committee approved Wednesday in a resolution recommending full authority approval in two weeks as part of a $755 million, five-year capital plan.

Biking in South Jersey

Bikers and pedestrians have been clamoring for the ramp for years.

Currently, bikers who want to use the walkway to ride to Philadelphia for work or leisure must carry their bicycles up several stories of steep stairs — about 25 feet high — under the bridge at 5th Street in Camden. There has long been bike ramp access on the Philadelphia side.

The proposed ramp was to be 810 feet long with one platform along the incline. The ramp would begin just west of 3rd Street and end just west of 5th Street near the existing pedestrian tunnel.

DRPA to install bike ramp on Ben Franklin Bridge

DRPA officials said design plans for the $4.1 million project had been completed during the summer and a bid award was expected by year's end. The authority has received $1.2 million in total grants from the federal highway administration and from the William Penn Foundation to help finance the ramp.

Venuto said the authority received bids in September from four bidders but rejected them last week as exceeding the budgetary estimate.

The project was expected to take 15 months to complete.

Carol Comegno (856) 486-2473; or ccomegno@gannettnj.com