By David J. Foster Staff Writer

Years of natural corrosion and a daily beating by 150,000 vehicles have combined to place eight bridges along I-95 on the disabled list. In 1998, they'll get a two-year recuperation.

That's when local commuters will need the rest, as all eight bridges run through the Northeast and their reconstruction will squeeze traffic patterns.

While I-95 will remain open during construction, vehicles will be shoehorned into three lanes in each direction, at least during rush hour. They will be narrower than present lanes and speed restrictions will be enforced. PennDOT expects the massive daily commute to be significantly slowed.

PennDOT hopes the new SEPTA park-and-ride facility will help alleviate the headache. Set to open this fall near the Woodhaven Rd. exit, the parking complex will hold 2,000 cars, whose drivers, the theory goes, will then hop onto SEPTA's R7 Regional Rail line instead of further pounding the interstate.

The bridge reconstruction will cost $125-130 million and is expected to begin in the fall of 1998.

"What we've identified is the more critical work," said Vito Genua, PennDOT assistant district engineer. "There are other structures in that area that need work. This is just the first phase."

Work will stretch between Academy Rd. and the I-95 viaduct over Westmoreland and Tioga Sts., the same bridge damaged in the Port Richmond tire fire.

That reconstruction took months, but was not as all- encompassing as the current work schedule. The viaduct will be redecked and the superstructure rehabilitated.

Other bridges on the rebuilding list include a span over Levick St., long stretches over the Pennypack Creek and State Rd., and smaller spans over abandoned quarries and the Amtrack Northeast Corridor Mainline.

The wear and tear can be attributed to a number of factors. For one, the stretch of I-95 through Philadelphia is one of the interstate's most heavily traveled.

"In particular, there's a great deal of truck traffic," Genua said. "Then there are the winter conditions. This is the normal deterioration we are experiencing throughout the entire commonwealth."

Once the Northeast bridge reconstruction is complete, work will move further north and south.

"We just need to come up with the money to do it," Genua said.