Commodore Barry Bridge is getting a paint job and restoration, and traffic is jammed

Canvas shrouds the Commodore Barry Bridge as workers blast clean and repaint the high steel trusses holding up the roadway.

The $220 million project, expected to finish in 2028, has caused havoc this summer with commuter and Shore-bound traffic on a crucial link between Delaware and Gloucester Counties.

Traffic is squeezed into one lane in each direction from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m., and residual morning delays have been reported. Crews sometimes also have to close lanes or temporarily stop all traffic during daytime to move equipment and materials.

It’s a major undertaking for the Delaware River Port Authority, the bistate agency that owns and runs the Commodore Barry, as well as the Walt Whitman, Ben Franklin and Betsy Ross Bridges.

As they move along the 13,912 feet of the bridge, industrial painting crews first sandblast layers of old paint and protective coatings that have built up over the years.

They work from suspended platforms in enclosed spaces of canvas, with containment systems that capture the gritty material used to clean the steel, lead-based paint and other grime.

Although that up-in-the-air work is most visible to motorists, massive repairs are going on underneath, on the deck, and in the support structures below that, including the piers in the river.

Crews are removing crumbling concrete and replacing it, repairing the drainage system, and installing 14,000 feet of new electrical conduits and wire, DRPA officials say.

The rehab began in spring 2025, with replacement of the movable “zipper” barrier that separates lanes of bridge traffic. It was finished last summer.

The bridge opened in 1974 after five years of construction.

Earlier, people relied on ferries to cross from one state to another.

In 1930, the Chester-Bridgeport Ferry began running, with a capacity of 60 cars per trip. Six years later, the ferry’s boats were added to the federal highway system, as moveable parts of U.S. Route 332.