It ‘just makes the city look bad’: petition demands that the University Avenue Bridge be saved from further damage
PennDOT expects to start work on the bridge “within a few weeks" but the exact scope of repairs is undetermined.
The state of the University Avenue Bridge, long neglected and subject to vandalism, is attracting a wave of public scrutiny. An online petition that has collected hundreds of signatures calls for the historically significant span to be secured before further damage is done.
“We demand that PennDOT and the City of Philadelphia treat this historic structure with the same respect shown to the Ben Franklin Bridge,” wrote the author of the change.org petition. “Officials must act now to secure the site from further destruction so that this beautiful bridge survives to celebrate its own 100-year anniversary in 2030.”
The Ben Franklin Bridge was feted this month with a special centenary event closing it to vehicles that drew an estimated 50,000 pedestrians, cyclists, and others.
The publication, Hidden City, also published a cri de coeur this week.
“As the Benjamin Franklin Bridge receives accolades this year for its 100-year anniversary and receives regular maintenance by its owner, DRPA, the University Avenue Bridge continues to decay, seemingly ignored by PennDOT,” wrote Kimberly Haas in an article posted Tuesday.
A PennDOT spokesperson said that, in fact, it is in the process of finalizing a contract for work on the bridge, and that the work is expected to start “within a few weeks,” though the exact scope of the job is as-yet undetermined.
The two bridges share an architect in widely admired French-born Penn professor Paul Philippe Cret. Today, the windows on the University Avenue Bridge’s richly detailed operator houses are broken or gone, mortar is missing, stone is marred by graffiti, and some architectural elements have been stolen, the petition notes.
“The bridge must be made secure IMMEDIATELY to prevent further damage,” it states.
The Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia, which characterizes the bridge as threatened by neglect and has urged its restoration, applauded the petition.
“We hope it will put pressure on PennDOT to take action to prevent further decay of the bridge and its operator houses,” said preservation alliance director of policy and communications Hanna Stark.
An Inquirer column in June highlighted the drawbridge’s condition, as did an article in September.
The bridge, which links West Philadelphia and Grays Ferry, is owned by PennDOT, though responsibility for its upkeep is split between the state agency and the city’s Streets Department. The city agency oversees operations, including the mechanical components that lift the bridge, which currently do not work. Graffiti removal may also fall under Philadelphia’s jurisdiction.
PennDOT handles the bridge’s aesthetic and structural components. It is responsible for cleaning up debris, and does routine maintenance on the other aspects of the bridge except for the mechanical components.
The state agency would also oversee any full major rehabilitation project, whose price tag PennDOT estimates at about $50 million. No such project is planned at the moment. The last major rehabilitation was in 1985.
The complete scope of PennDOT’s work expected to start in the next few weeks is still to be determined, the agency’s spokesperson said, but it will include steel repairs and fortification to prevent vandalism. Completion is expected in late 2026 or early 2027.
Damage to the bridge has continued in the past month or so at the operator’s house closer to Grays Ferry.
“It just feels like it’s getting so much worse,” said Heather Calvert, the West Philadelphia resident and regular bridge visitor who started the petition. “It’s not a big ask to secure it to keep more of the historic elements from getting lost for everyone.”
To have the bridge in this condition, Calvert said, “just makes the city look bad.”
