DelDOT Bridge 447 Resiliency

Bridge 1-447 is known as Taylor’s Bridge and carries SR-9 Taylors Bridge Road over Blackbird Creek. Located in New Castle County, Delaware, approximately 5 miles southeast of Odessa, this segment of SR-9 is a designated scenic byway and part of Delaware’s Bayshore Byway. The bridge is primarily used to provide access to the surrounding area, SR-1, US 13, and as a scenic route traveling between historic New Castle and the Delaware Beaches. The bridge also provides local pedestrians with a location for enjoying views of the surrounding marshland wildlife and is utilized for recreational fishing. As this route is part of the Delaware Byways Program and functions as a primary route for access to local residential areas, maintaining functional use of the bridge is important for residents and tourism in the area.

Because the project runs through a wetland environment, avoiding and minimizing impacts to the wetlands was a primary focus for the project team. Surrounded by business, residential, and agricultural areas, careful consideration was made to limit the impacts to these stakeholders throughout construction; a public meeting was held in July 2021.

The replacement structure will be comprised of a four-span precast, prestressed concrete superstructure, totaling 440-ft in length, and supported by reinforced concrete piers and abutments with steel sheet pile walls on the approach roadways. The new structure will pass the 50-year design storm and the effects of 3-ft of sea level rise, which will require raising the profile grade of Taylors Bridge Road at the bridge and along the approach roadways. The project requires approximately 2100’ of roadway reconstruction.