This painting work on the Delaware Memorial Bridge is perhaps the most important one in years. Multiple coats of paint are coming off for the first time ever.
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NEW CASTLE, Del. -- Think it's a big job to paint a couple of rooms in your home?
Try painting a tower, a 44-story tower on the Delaware Memorial Bridge.
In fact, try painting four of them.
A couple of cans of paint, some brushes and a drop cloth just won't do.
Even at the bridges, where most maintenance projects are big ones, the painting now underway is different than any before. It's perhaps the most complex and perhaps most important paint job in the history of the bridges.
Lane closures and resulting traffic backups have caused complaints from motorists, but many driving across the bridges between Salem County and New Castle, Delaware, don't realize the work is not for looks, but the very survival of the spans.
"We take our fiduciary responsibility to maintain, preserve and enhance our transportation infrastructure very seriously. The painting effort isn't being done for aesthetics -- it's necessary to preserve the integrity of the steel," said Jim Salmon, spokesman for the Delaware River and Bay Authority which operates the bridge.
Truly a big project
The twin spans get a fresh coat of paint, in stages, on the average every 10 years, says Gregory G. Pawlowski, DRBA project engineer.
But this paint job is different. Much different.
For the first time since the bridges were opened, this project will "strip the paint off to the bare steel," Pawlowski said.
The New-Jersey-bound span of the bridge was opened in August 1951 and the Delaware-bound span saw its first traffic in September 1968. Just over two miles in length, each carries four lanes of traffic.
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There has been continuous painting on the spans over the years, but it has been one coat on top of another.
According to Pawlowski, during the current project workers stripped off approximately 13 coats of paint on the 1951 bridge. There's no word yet on how many coats are on the 1968 bridge where work is just underway.
Blastech Enterprises of Baltimore which specializes in such projects was the low bidder on the $13 million project.
This round of painting is just for the four bridge towers. Once they are done, contracts will be awarded for other sections of the spans.
No fear of heights
Working hundreds of feet above the Delaware River is not something everyone can get used to, but Theo Mamouzelos, quality control supervisor for Blastech, isn't fazed.
"With anyone I think that your first time up there you are in a little in awe that someone could build something like this and you're standing up at the top,"Mamouzelos said.
"It can be shocking at first, but I was always the kid in the tallest tree hanging out of the top. Fear of heights is something that I haven't had."
The roadway of the bridges at mid-span are about 200 feet above the river. Travel to the top of the support towers and you're about 440 feet -- around 44 stories -- above the Delaware.
Mamouzelos says not everyone is cut out for a job at the top.
"We have hired people and they came on the bridge and they say 'I just can't do this' and they last a day or two."
Viewing the work from the top of one of the towers is a spectacular experience.
To the north is the skyline of Philadelphia. To the east, Salem County, the west New Castle County and to the south, the winding Delaware River and the PSEG Nuclear generating complex in Artificial Island and the Delaware City refinery.
Looking down to the river, tankers and tugboats silently glided on the water under the bridges.
The only thing taller than the towers in the surrounding area is the Hope Creek cooling tower at 512 feet.
The process
The prep work needed for painting the towers takes much longer than the actual stripping and painting itself, Mamouzelos said.
Scaffolding supports the workers and their equipment as they work on the towers. It took 32 flatbed tractor-trailers to carry the scaffolding from Louisiana.
There's $9 million of scaffolding on the work site that is being rented at $50,000 a month for the job. Blastech has $2 million of its own equipment on the site, officials explained.
Thirty workers handle the scaffolding and 40 are involved with the rigging, blasting and painting.
A containment structure surrounds the sectioned-off work areas on the scaffolding.
The large sections of white tarp have been referred to as everything from a shroud to a cocoon. Others say the large sections of draped cloth remind them of a Christo art project.
Workers inside the containment area, in their protective gear, blast off the layers of old paint with special equipment that shoots angular steel grit against the tower surface. The grit actually makes pit marks in the steel, a process that helps the paint to adhere better.
The grit and the paint dust and chips are collected through a special system that separates the metal from the paint. The grit is then recycled and the paint pulverized and disposed of.
Once a section of a tower is stripped of paint, the painting process immediately begins, said Mamouzelos.
A prime coat, a stripe coat (done manually to cover edges on bolts), another prime coat, two intermediate coats and a final coat are applied. Chalking is used to close gaps in the steel where water could collect.
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Some 28,000 pounds of paint was stripped off the first tower completed. The second tower yielded 32,000 pounds.
In an effort to move the project along, Blastech has brought in additional equipment and worker are on the job extra hours.
The bridge's color? It's Federal Green, the same color that's been used since the first span opened.
The first tower to be painted used 1,020 gallons of paint. Numbers aren't in for the second one yet.
Many of the techniques used by Blastech are proprietary.
Safety comes first
The lane closures, while they may cause traffic delays, are needed for the project.
The equipment Blastech needs is stationed on the roadway next to the towers.
Workers have to climb the scaffolding -- which reaches from the bridge tower pier at water level to the top -- to reach their work stations.
Workers are outfitted with special hoods, blast shields, capes, gloves, boots and respirators and even personal air monitors. The clothing protects them from ricocheting pieces of angular steel grit used to blast off the paint and the leaded paint particles.
Mamouzelos said there are decontamination stations. Workers are also subject to blood tests to be sure there are no elevated levels of metals in their blood --especially lead.
The containment structure, the tarps enclosing the work areas around the towers, is constructed to withstand winds of 100 mph, according to Mamouzelos, but if winds hit 40 mph work stops and the tarps -- and workers -- come down.
Weather radar is watched carefully. If severe storms are headed to the bridge, the containment structure can be disassembled in about two hours.
The towers don't sway, but anyone standing on the roadway can feel a bounce -- after all, it's a suspension bridge.
"When the winds pick up, it can be a little scary," Mamouzelos said.
Why now?
Why did the DRBA decide to paint the bridge during the high summer travel season?
Simple. Painting in winter just doesn't work on a project this size.
The longer days are needed to provide light for the work.
The warmer temperatures are needed to allow the coats of primar and paint to dry property. If the first coat of primer isn't put on the bare steel immediately a slight coating of rust and the surface needed to be prepped again.
It's been a major undertaking, but needed to protect the spans for future travelers.
An estimated 34.5 million vehicles use the twin spans each year. Keeping the bridges in good condition has long been a priority for the DRBA.
A key link on the Northeast Corridor, it's critical both spans are kept in shape.
The 1951 span cost $44 million to build. The 1968 span cost $77 million. Building a similar bridge today? No one has a real estimate.
So far, painting has been completed on both towers on the New Jersey-bound span. Work is underway on the bridge headed to Delaware.
The project is scheduled to be done by December, but Mamouzelos hopes to see it completed by November.
"I would like to emphasize that we regret any inconvenience that the tower painting project has had on our customers," Salmon added. "Unfortunately, due to the project's characteristics, size and scope -- the work has to be done during the eight-month period from spring to late fall."
How long will this special paint job protect the bridges?
Officials are estimating 15 to 20 years.
Bill Gallo Jr. may be reached at bgallo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow South Jersey Times on Twitter @TheSJTimes. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
