PennDOT and Buckley & Co. photo
The new park will be an 11.5-acre civic space and will include gardens, flexible open space for concerts and festivals and a mass-timber pavilion.
Philadelphia's Center City is studded with some of the most iconic elements of American history, including the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, where our nation's forefathers debated and then signed the Constitution. The names of Benjamin Franklin, William Penn and Betsy Ross are in the air every day.
Philadelphia's Delaware River Waterfront is a short distance away, luring tourists and locals to beautiful scenery, hip restaurants, bars and other local attractions.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) is working with the city of Philadelphia and construction experts to link these two thriving features of the city through a massive construction project known as the Central Access Philadelphia (CAP). The project will cost approximately $329 million and will create an 11-acre riverfront park. The construction team hopes to have much of the project ready in time for the city's celebration of the 250-year anniversary of the country's birth in 2026. The project is expected to be finalized in 2028.
PennDOT plans to perform this magic by using "caps." Like many major American cities, Philadelphia's downtown is a beehive of streets and freeways filled with workers, commuters and business vehicles. City planners struggle to find ways to gouge out green space for leisure and recreation. One solution is to construct a "cap" over busy streets, creating greenspace on top of the streets that can be turned into parks and leisure areas for residents. When completed, the cap enables traffic to flow unimpeded below the new greenspace.
Major Demolition
Michael Altomari Jr., assistant construction engineer of PennDOT's District 6, and Frank Bonito, senior project manager of Hill International, are holding the reins for this complex project. The job is the largest in District 6 history.
As is the case for most dense cities, something must be demolished before a new structure can arise. In Philadelphia, this project included careful management of the traffic on I-95, the aortic highway of the East Coast.
In most construction scenarios, the demolition of caps over north and southbound I-95 would be managed over six months. PennDOT, Hill, the city, police and contractors instead decided on an all-hands-on-deck approach. The team decided to attempt to get the demolition completed on two winter weekends.
"We alerted the public several weeks in advance of the coming shutdown of I-95, then stepped up the alerts as we got closer to the weekend," said Altomari. "We received great public support as motorists accepted the idea of two weekends of inconvenience rather than months of it. Motorists stayed off the freeway or took detours during that time. Traffic was reduced by nearly 70 percent."
Buckley & Co. and Atlantic Coast Dismantling brought in an armada of equipment, more than 35 machines for the round-the-clock demolition of more than 400 box beams removed in approximately 60 hours. The beams had to be dropped, pulverized and removed from the roadway in just two 35-hour windows. Equipment ranged from Cat 349 up to Cat 395 excavators with shears grapples magnets and pulverizers. The Komatsu 1250 used the largest shear Labounty makes. Several Cat and Volvo haul trucks were used to move the debris as well as Cat loaders and dozers.
"We were able to cut through the cap and haul the concrete off in time to open traffic up again on Monday morning," said Bonito. "The concrete will be crushed and used as subgrade for roads and bridges in other parts of the state.
Contractors also demolished an open-air concrete amphitheater, Walnut Street walkway and other structures. The old cap over I-95 was four acres.
The work began in earnest in late 2023 when crews began removing existing structures, including the Walnut Street pedestrian bridge over Columbus Boulevard and the adjoining staircase and rotunda on the east side of the boulevard at Penn's Landing.
The construction team demolished and recycled an estimated 44,000 tons of concrete and 2.4 million lbs. of steel during the work.
Moving Memorials
While most structures were being demolished, two important monuments were being preserved. Buckley, the general contractor for the CAP project, was tasked with moving the Scottish and Irish Memorials and relocating them to a nearby park. The Irish monument was six tons and made of bronze. The Scottish memorial was composed of granite and weighed approximately 30 tons. The construction team brought in a conservator and rigger to supervise the movement.
Buckley also created the park and shaped it to properly display these significant monuments. They worked with the designers of the monuments and determined the lift points that were created as the best places to attach the cranes and not damage the artwork. Buckley also worked with the artist in the design of the park where the monuments will be displayed.
Once the cap had been removed, workers immediately began constructing abutments for the new cap. In addition, the construction team is installing sheet pile shoring along Front Street and H piles that will support the new cap structure. Work on the Front Street abutment will continue into the fall.
The construction team opted to use 83,000 cu. yds. of ultra-light foamed glass aggregate (UL-FGA) for backfill. This material is some 80 percent lighter than traditional aggregate, resulting in much less settlement in the area close to the river.
The current contract calls for the team to construct the South Side pedestrian bridge for entry into the new park. Currently, pedestrians and cyclists can cross I-95 on a pedestrian bridge but must navigate several lanes of busy traffic to get to the popular multi-use pathway along the waterfront.
Workers have already installed some of the support piers for the pedestrian bridge.
"We decided to build the pedestrian bridge on one of the parking lots, then roll it into place when completed," said Bonita. "The cable-stayed bridge will weigh approximately 1,000 tons and have special troughs to hold about 40 trees. By building the bridge separately, we hope to lift it into place on a couple of weekends and save motorists the hassle of a six-month build over active traffic."
One of the current challenges of the project is the relocation of a massive number of utilities. Once that is taken care of, the project can proceed more quickly. Another necessary but unpleasant job will be the construction of a large pole barn on one of the parking lots. Workers will be able to store equipment there and prevent much of the theft that happens at a major construction project like this. The barn will enable the construction team to work on smaller pieces of the project during inclement weather and during the winter.
Memorable Park
The current phase of the project includes demolition of the old cap and construction of the new one. The next phase will encompass construction of the new park at Penn's Landing and auxiliary buildings. The park, like the pedestrian bridge, will extend over Columbus Boulevard and will connect cyclists and pedestrians to the newly completed Delaware River Trail.
The construction team also will maintain pedestrian access between the City Center and the waterfront via Dock Street and Market Street. Travel restrictions will occur on I-95 and adjacent surface streets during construction.
The new park will be an 11.5-acre civic space and will include gardens, flexible open space for concerts and festivals and a mass-timber pavilion. An ice rink also is being planned.
Chad Lavallee is the project manager for Buckley on the project.
"It's been exciting working on this project," he said. "There's nothing like this park in Philadelphia. It will provide some impressive greenspace and will probably be used for decades." CEG
Chuck MacDonald
Chuck MacDonald is an editor, blogger and freelance feature writer whose writing adventures have taken him to 48 states and 10 countries. He has been the editor for magazines on pavement construction, chemicals, insurance and missions. Chuck enjoys bicycling, kayaking and reading. He graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in journalism. Chuck lives in Annapolis, Md. with his wife Kristen. They have seven grandchildren.
Read more from Chuck MacDonald here.
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