Wednesday, March 28

The pump that supplies water to the Canal from Centre Bridge to Lock 11 section in New Hope was damaged during the ice floes in the Delaware River this winter.   The Park Maintenance staff has not been able to get down into the River to fully ascertain the problem because of ice, then high water levels. It anticipated that the damage isn’t too significant.

In the meantime, the contract has been awarded to Bi-State Construction for the reconstruction of the Phillips’ Mill Bridge.  The first stage of this project is to place pipes through which water can flow in the Canal  and then construct a temporary roadway to access the bridge site.

The Park’s plan is to have both the pump repair and the pipe installation/ temporary road access projects occur simultaneously in April.    This will take advantage of the Canal’s current waterless condition and prevent the scenario of rewatering the Canal with the pump only to have it de-watered again shortly thereafter.