An In-Depth Look At The Walt Whitman's Facelift

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- You've never seen this side of the Walt Whitman Bridge.

Eyewitness News was granted a rare glimpse, hundreds of feet up, under the rumbling roadway of the Delaware Valley's largest suspension bridge. It is a massive project. The painting surface exceeds 2.3 million square feet.

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Scraping, sandblasting, and painting: the Walt Whitman, with its twin 378 foot towers, was due.

"In terms of dollars, the actual painting work (is) $57 million," John Hanson, CEO of the Delaware River Port Authority, said and since 1957, the roughly two-mile long bridge has connected South Philly to Gloucester City.

The DRPA approved the stripping and painting contract with a Youngstown, Ohio-based company named Corcon. The bridge was last painted in 1992.

You're wondering where do they begin. First, a safety platform is constructed below the bridge deck.

That alone took five months. "It's a whole different world," Corcon owner Lou Lyras said.

Because workers were tasked with removing the bridge's original lead paint, that meant the construction of a massive containment system, complete with an elaborate air filtration system. Suited in protective gear, the crew sandblasts the paint - one section at a time. From there, it's on to priming and painting.

"It starts with a zinc primer and then an epoxy and finally a urethane finish coat," said Mike Venuto, chief engineer.

77 men and 3 women make up the crew, working from the highest reaches of the towers, to below the road surface. If you're wondering about rollers and brushes, you won't find them here.

Workers use spray applicators.

It will take 50,000 gallons of paint to bring the Walt Whitman back to its green shimmer. Unlike the Ben Franklin Bridge, with its custom color known as simply "Ben Franklin blue," the Walt Whitman is well, just green.

"It's a federal standard color, it's a green," Hanson said.

Meanwhile parts of the bridge too corroded are marked with an "x."

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"When you do especially these large bridges, you have to do the sandblasting to reveal what the deterioration is," Lyras explained. Ironworkers will remove them, and install new supports. You can see the difference...the new paint job replaces an old, tired and rusty look.

That crisp greenish look is expected to last 20 to 25 years.