Skip to main content

Tacony-Palmyra Bridge

Image
By

Spanning the Delaware River between the neighborhood of Tacony in northeast Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with Palmyra, New Jersey, the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge was initially constructed in order to fulfill a glaring transportation need, which was to have meaningful crossings between Philadelphia and Trenton. At first, there was a car ferry between Tacony and Palmyra starting in 1922, with ferry slips built close to trolley lines on the Pennsylvania side of the river. But that soon proved to be quite popular and within a few years, there was a desire to replace the car ferry with a bridge at the same place the ferry crossed the Delaware River, further connecting northeast Philly with South Jersey.

It was in 1928 when local investors hedged their bets on having a tolled bridge built at the ferry between Tacony and Palmyra and formed the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge Company. The company hired  engineer Rudolph Modjeski, to design the bridge. Modjeski also designed the Manhattan Bridge and the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. Construction began in February 1928 and the new bridge opened to traffic in August 1929, a mere 18 months and $4 million dollars later. At the time, the toll was 35 cents and an average of 3,500 cars a day made the trip. In five years, the number of vehicles doubled. Today, the bridge has a $4 cash toll and $3 E-ZPass toll for Pennsylvania bound traffic. Approximately 70,000 vehicles per day use the bridge. The Tacony-Palmyra Bridge was privately owned and operated until 1948, when the Burlington Bridge Commission purchased the bridge. At one time, the bridge carried the eastern terminus of US 422, but today is designated as part of PA 73 and NJ 73.

The Tacony-Palmyra Bridge has a total bridge length is 3659 feet while vertical clearance under the main span is 61 feet at high tide. While the most visible part of the bridge is an arch, there is also a 260 foot long bascule span with counterweighted decks that pivot upwards to allow shipping to pass underneath. The drawbridge design was a political compromise in order to minimize construction delays and reduce costs. It is an attractive bridge and on a clear day, you can easily see the skyline of Center City Philadelphia. I've taken some photos of the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge from the bridge itself, along with some photos taken at the Palmyra Cove Nature Park on the New Jersey side of the bridge.












How to Get There:


Sources and Links:
Tacony-Palmyra Bridge - Delaware River Heritage Trail
Tacony-Palmyra Bridge - PhillyRoads.com
NJ 73 - Alps' Roads
PA 73 - Alps' Roads

Labels:
Location: Tacony-Palmyra Bridge, 1300 NJ-73, Palmyra, NJ 08065, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I-40 rockslide uncovers old debates on highway

By
The Asheville Citizen-Times continues to do a great job covering all the angles of the Interstate 40 Haywood County rock slide. An article in Sunday's edition provides a strong historical perspective on how the Pigeon River routing of Interstate 40 came about. And perhaps most strikingly, in an article that ran just prior to the highway's opening in the fall of 1968, how engineers from both Tennessee and North Carolina warned "...that slides would probably be a major problem along the route for many years." On February 12, 1969, not long after the Interstate opened, the first rock slide that would close I-40 occurred. Like many other Interstates within North Carolina, Interstate 40 through the mountains has a history prior to formation of the Interstate Highway System and was also a heated political battle between local communities. The discussion for a road that would eventually become Interstate 40 dates back to the 1940's as the idea for interregional high
2 comments
Read more

Former California State Route 41 past Bates Station

By
When California State Route 41 was commissioned during August 1934 it was aligned along the then existing Fresno-Yosemite Road north of the San Joaquin River.  Within the Sierra Nevada foothills of Madera County, the original highway alignment ran past Bates Station via what is now Madera County Road 209, part of eastern Road 406 and Road 207.   Bates Station was a stage station plotted during the early 1880s at what was the intersection of the Coarsegold Road and Stockton-Los Angeles Road.   The modern alignment bypassing Bates Station to the east would be reopened to traffic during late 1939.   Part 1; the history of California State Route 41 past Bates Station Bates Station was featured as one of the many 1875-1899 Madera County era towns in the May 21, 1968, Madera Tribune .  Post Office Service at Bates Station is noted to have been established on November 23, 1883 and ran continuously until October 31, 1903.  The postal name was sourced from Bates Station owner/operator George Ba
Post a Comment
Read more

Interstate 210 the Foothill Freeway

By
The combined Interstate 210/California State Route 210 corridor of the Foothill Freeway is approximately 85.31-miles.  The Interstate 210/California State Route 210 corridor begins at Interstate 5 at the northern outskirts of Los Angeles and travels east to Interstate 10 in Redlands of San Bernardino County.  Interstate 210 is presently signed on the 44.9-mile segment of the Foothill Freeway between Interstate 5 and California State Route 57.  California State Route 210 makes up the remaining 40.41 miles of the Foothill Freeway east to Interstate 10.  Interstate 210 is still classified by the Federal Highway Administration as existing on what is now signed as California State Route 57 from San Dimas south to Interstate 10.  The focus of this blog will mostly be on the history of Interstate 210 segment of the Foothill Freeway.   Part 1; the history of Interstate 210 and California State Route 210 Interstate 210 (I-210) was approved as a chargeable Interstate during September of
Post a Comment
Read more