Construction has begun on a major rehabilitation project on the Norristown High Speed Line, or M Line, officials with Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) said.
The rehabilitation project will impact more than a third of the 5,600 weekday trips passengers take on the line, officials said. The project will make structural repairs to the Bridgeport Viaduct that carries the M Line over the Schuylkill River. The M Line connects Bridgeport Station with the Norristown Transit Center.
“The Bridgeport Viaduct is more than a bridge on SEPTA’s M Line,” SEPTA Board Chair Kenneth E. Lawrence Jr., said. “It is a true gateway carrying not just trains, but people getting to work, school, and home – connecting Montgomery County to Delaware County and beyond. We are proud to make this investment on behalf of our riders and the residents of Bridgeport and Norristown.”
The bridge, built in 1911, requires major repairs to extend its life, officials said.
“This 115-year-old viaduct is SEPTA’s third-longest bridge, and this work is needed for us to be able to continue M service between Bridgeport and Norristown,” SEPTA General Manager Scott A. Sauer said. “This project is being completed in phases to avoid an outage this summer when Philadelphia hosts FIFA World Cup matches, the MLB All-Star Game, and America’s 250th birthday celebration.”
At a cost of $55 million, the project will include structural steel repairs, concrete repairs to abutments and piers, bearing replacement and concrete deck replacement, among other things. Construction on the full project will take about a year, officials said.
For this part of the project, starting March 29 and running through May 9, shuttle buses will replace train service between Bridgeport Station and Norristown Transit Center. Train service will operate as normal between Bridgeport Station and 69th Street Transit Center.