A $149 million reconstruction of the Market Street bridge over the Schuylkill River and I-76 will begin this month and will eventually close the road to cars for more than a year, starting in August 2026.
PennDOT will partially demolish and replace a section of the road, which actually consists of three bridge sections, and add a two-way, concrete-separated bike lane with a bicycle signal light on its western end. The nearby Walnut Street bridge will also be resurfaced and gain a bike lane as part of the project.
To accommodate construction, a series of detours for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians are planned, including weekend closures of a stretch of I-76 near Market Street that will direct drivers off the highway and through city streets.
The three bridge sections were erected in 1932, well before the Schuylkill Expressway was built in the 1950s, said Paul Schultes, a design construction consultant for PennDOT.
“Essentially, they are just at the end of their useful life,” he said. “They have not had any major rehabilitation work done on them since they were initially constructed, and at this point we just need to go in and repair and replace a lot of aspects of these bridges.”
The work is expected to take four years to complete. Federal funds are covering 80% of the cost, with the state paying the rest. The project was designed by Chicago-based Benesch.
A rare stretch of concrete-separated bike lanes
In the next two weeks, general contractor Buckley & Company will start doing “extensive utility work” to move or replace many electric and gas lines, as well as water, fiber optic and other lines in the area, per PennDOT. That work had been expected to start on Monday but the date was postponed.
Once the main rehabilitation work begins, the superstructure over the Amtrak train tracks and the Schuylkill Expressway, toward the western end of the bridge, will be partially demolished and replaced. On the adjacent central section, which crosses the river, deteriorated decking and sidewalks will be replaced.
On the eastern end, the bridge over the Schuylkill River Trail (SRT) and CSX rail tracks, which consists of four spans supported by concrete piers, will be fully replaced with a single-span bridge and retaining walls. The two easternmost spans, which once accommodated additional train lines, will be filled in.
The bridge will largely keep its current layout, with two car lanes in each direction, turning lanes and wide sidewalks.
“The bridge probably isn’t going to look any different to most people, even down to what the brick is and the mortar,” PennDOT construction manager Chris Isaacson said. “Just in a lot better condition and a lot newer.”
However, a two-way bicycle lane with concrete separators will be added along the south side of the road, and on its eastern end will connect with the “bike facilities” at 23rd Street, PennDOT says. On the west end, a bicycle signal will be installed at Market Street and Schuylkill Avenue.
(23rd Street does not have bike lanes, but City Council recently passed legislation to install one between Market and Race streets, and cycling advocates are calling for it to be extended south on 23rd to Walnut Street.)
The sidewalks will be widened on the eastern bridge section, over the SRT and rail tracks, to match the main river bridge section.
Repairs to Walnut and Chestnut bridges as well
Other changes on the bridge will include upgrades of traffic signals with Intelligent Transportation System improvements, and the installation of new highway, bridge enhancement and navigation lighting systems.
The project will repair walls that support the Schuylkill River banks on both sides from Market Street to south of Walnut Street, and fix a pedestrian staircase between the SRT and JFK Boulevard that has settled.
On the Walnut Street bridge, the road will be resurfaced between 22nd and 33rd streets, a parking-separated bike lane will be installed, and traffic signals will be modified.
At the Chestnut Street bridge, which PennDOT rehabilitated a few years ago, workers will complete work on an arch over the CSX tracks, and a nearby section of the wall that supports the side of the river will be repaired, officials said.
Highway and trail closures planned
There will be several road closures, detours and temporary traffic changes for the project. The Market Street bridge will initially remain open daily from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m., but will frequently be closed at night for construction.
All the closures will be suspended from June 1 to August 7, 2026, during the period when U.S. Semiquincentennial (250th anniversary) celebrations, FIFA World Cup games, an MLB All-Star Game and other activities are expected to draw hundreds of thousands of visitors to Philadelphia.
The main, 14-month closure of the Market Street bridge to cars will take place after that period, from August 2026 to October 2027. Pedestrians and cyclists will be encouraged to use Chestnut, Walnut and other routes, but will still be able to cross the river on Market Street.
“We will still maintain pedestrians, because of the train station and all of the employers on the east, Center City side,” Schultes said. Those include PECO and Aramark, which have office buildings near the river.
The Schuylkill River Trail will remain open under Market Street, but a section of trail under Chestnut Street will be closed for a period to allow reconstruction of the river wall. Walkers and bicyclists who need to traverse that section will have to exit and reenter the trail using existing entrances.
At certain times Schuylkill Avenue near the Amtrak station will also be closed and traffic will be detoured to allow for replacement of the western bridge section. On several weekends that have not been scheduled yet, I-76 will be closed in both directions between Arch and Walnut streets.
“When we’re actually lifting sections off of the bridge and putting new sections in for the new bridge, we can’t have traffic underneath on the expressway. That’s when we use the detours,” Schultes said.
Amtrak does not anticipate any impact on the station’s operations or its ongoing renovation project, a spokesperson for the rail operator said.
Motorists driving southeast on I-76 will be detoured west on Market Street and south on 38th and 34th streets, and those heading northwest will be routed onto Grays Ferry Avenue, 22nd Street and I-676, according to maps posted on the project website, MarketStreetBridges.com.
Some construction work on Walnut Street will happen at the same time, but most will take place after Market Street reopens. A lane of westbound car traffic and the bicycle lane will remain open on Walnut while work is underway.
