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PennDot abruptly closed the failing Route 420 South bridge. Here’s how to get around it.

The bridge, rebuilt in 1951, serves as a key connector for motorists in Delaware County traveling to I-95, who will now have to detour.

PennDot workers set up closed signs on the southbound lanes of Route 420, Thursday Dec. 8. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation announced on Wednesday that the Route 420 (Wanamaker Avenue) bridge that connects to I-95 in Delaware County will be closed indefinitely because of structural flaws.
PennDot workers set up closed signs on the southbound lanes of Route 420, Thursday Dec. 8. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation announced on Wednesday that the Route 420 (Wanamaker Avenue) bridge that connects to I-95 in Delaware County will be closed indefinitely because of structural flaws.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has abruptly closed the Route 420 bridge southbound in Prospect Park, Delaware County — crossed by nearly 20,000 vehicles a day — after an inspection found major structural issues.

The bridge, rebuilt in 1951, serves as a key connector for motorists in Delaware County traveling to I-95, who will now have to detour. PennDot announced the closure Wednesday night, saying bridge inspectors had found “significant beam and bearing pedestal deterioration.”

PennDot could not give a time frame for when the bridge might reopen and said in a statement that the span will “remain closed until bridge engineers develop a plan to repair the structure.”

As a result, motorists driving from the Prospect Park area and heading toward Tinicum will have to take U.S. 13 (Chester Pike) west and turn left onto Stewart Avenue, then connect with I-95.

The bridge was noted in a database of an Inquirer story earlier this year that found 512 roadway bridges in the Philadelphia region with average traffic of 100 or more vehicles a day had a “poor” rating for at least one of three components: deck, superstructure, or substructure. That equates to about 13% of the 3,901 bridges in Philadelphia and its surrounding seven counties that carry cars or trucks, according to the Federal Highway Administration’s National Bridge Inventory for 2021.

The Biden administration earlier this year targeted $27.5 billion in new federal aid to states to rehabilitate aging and failing bridges, including $1.6 billion for Pennsylvania.

» READ MORE: Hundreds of Philly-area bridges are slowly deteriorating. Should travelers be worried?

The Route 420 bridge, which crosses Darby Creek and connects with I-95 in Tinicum Township, was originally built in 1930 and is crossed by an average of 19,270 vehicles daily. It had poor ratings for all three components.

PennDot had already begun a design to replace the bridge and expects a bid for construction to open in early 2023.