Pennsylvania & New Jersey Railroad, Delaware River Bridge, Spanning Delaware River, south of Betsy Ross Bridge (State Route 90), Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA

Significance: Because of its location on the lower Delaware River, the bridge has a collection of extremely long and heavy spans. These include the world's heaviest center-bearing swing span, completed in 1896, and longest double-track vertical-lift span, added in 1959. Both movable spans are still present, which is an unusual occurrence. The bridge is also significant as the first Delaware River crossing at Philadelphia, supplanting a ferry crossing for passengers and freight bound for southern New Jersey.

Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N627

Survey number: HAER PA-545

Building/structure dates: 1895-1896 Initial Construction

Building/structure dates: 1958-1959 Subsequent Work

railroad bridges swing bridges vertical lift bridges steel truss bridges steel trestles pennsylvania railroad new jersey railroad delaware bridge delaware river bridge delaware river betsy ross betsy ross bridge state route philadelphia philadelphia county new jersey camden county a and p roberts william h brown charles a sims and company consolidated rail corporation conrail csx transportation eric n delony drake and stratton company joseph e elliott hardesty and hanover historic american engineering record john f casey company norfolk southern railroad p mcmanus company pencoyd iron works pennsylvania and new jersey railroad pennsylvania historical and museum commission pennsylvania railroad william a pratt justin m spivey us steel corporation photo ultra high resolution high resolution infrastructure library of congress

1969 - 1980

Library of Congress

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