![The South Street Bridge dropped pieces of concrete on motorists below last Thursday. The 80-year-old bridge is scheduled for reconstruction. [Daniel McQuade/The Summer Pennsylvanian]](http://thedp.com/files/imagecache/article_250wide/paper882/stills/3ee815af8a0f0-43-1.jpg "Caroline Dube")
After a chunk of concrete fell from the South Street Bridge late
last week, the city has initiated random inspections of about ten
bridges "of the same general type... and of the same general age"
as the 80 year-old bridge according to Philadelphia's Chief
Engineer and Surveyor Joe Syrnick.
Police closed the bridge at around 4 p.m. Thursday evening due
to concrete falling onto Interstate 76 from the structure's
sidewalk . Both westbound lanes of the Schuylkill Expressway were
also blocked off.
Obligated by federal law to inspect the 350 bridges in its care
every two years, the city chose to double-check those bridges
similar to the South Street Bridge with inspections over the past
three days.
The South Street Bridge itself is scheduled for reconstruction,
though Syrnick said work on the project "probably won't start for
another four or five years."
"This is by far the most complicated bridge project we've ever
done, and by far the most expensive one we've ever done," Syrnick
said, noting that the revitalization of the span could run into the
$60 million range.
Syrnick explained that, between the sections over freight and
passenger rail lines, the river and 76, the South Street Bridge is
in fact "quite a series of bridges, all of which are going to be
replaced."
Damage to the structure on Thursday was relatively minor -- "a
hole... about the size of a cantaloupe" in the sidewalk, according
to Syrnick. "We decided at that point that we should remove the
whole bay, from the bracing to the bracing, just to be safe," he
said.
City workers at the scene removed weak concrete around the hole,
creating roughly a two foot by two foot gap which has been plated
over. According to Syrnick, the concrete will likely be replaced
some time in the next month.
"The roadway is fine, the entire bridge is fine, there was never
any structural problem with the bridge in terms of the bridge
falling down," Syrnick added. "In spite of what we all think, this
sort of thing happens, it wasn't like, 'Oh my gosh, we'd never seen
this kind of thing before.'"
Syrnick attributed the incident to "a combination of being very
old... having a bad winter... and the recent intense wetness."
The University has been heavily involved in the planning of the
reconstruction. Special attention has been paid to access to the
Hollenback Center, home to Penn's Naval Reserve Officers Training
Corps program.
The new bridge will also feature broadened sidewalks, creating a
"promenade" over the river.
Comments