Riegelsville Bridge | |
---|---|
Coordinates | 40°35′39″N75°11′27″W / 40.59422°N 75.19077°W |
Carries | Delaware Road |
Crosses | Delaware River |
Locale | Riegelsville, New Jersey, and Riegelsville, Pennsylvania |
Maintained by | Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission |
Characteristics | |
Design | Suspension bridge |
Total length | 577 feet (176 m) |
History | |
Opened | 1904 |
Statistics | |
Toll | None |
Designated | March 22, 2010 |
Reference no. | 4107 |
Location | |
The Riegelsville Bridge is a suspension bridge crossing the Delaware River at Riegelsville, Pennsylvania, connecting it with Riegelsville, New Jersey, United States.
Traffic across the Delaware River at Riegelsville, Pennsylvania, was handled by Wendel and Anthony Shenk's oar powered ferries until December 15, 1837, when a three-span, wooden covered bridge was opened to horse, wagon, and pedestrian use. The Pennsylvania and New Jersey legislatures had approved the formation of the private Riegelsville Delaware Bridge Corporation in 1835 and the company engaged Solon Chapin and James Madison Porter of Easton, Pennsylvania as the contractors. A major flood struck the Delaware Valley on January 8, 1841, just three years after the bridge opened, and the span nearest the Jersey shore was destroyed. The bridge was repaired and survived another flood in June 1862.
The "Pumpkin Flood" occurred on October 10, 1903, and the Delaware waters rose to 33.8 feet (10.3 m) above normal. The two spans nearest to New Jersey were quickly swept down the river. The third section collapsed soon after.
The wire rope and engineering firm of John A. Roebling's Sons Co., based in Trenton, New Jersey, were soon commissioned and replaced the covered bridge with a cable suspension bridge. This new bridge incorporated the original piers which were repaired and raised several feet, allowing it to survive major damage from the flood of 1936 and to come through a 1955 deluge relatively unscathed. Together, the three spans are 585 feet (178 m) in length and the final cost of construction was $30,000. It opened on April 18, 1904. [1]
Roebling's original design for the bridge employed main cables 2+5⁄8 inches (7 cm) in diameter. Professor James Madison Porter III, the grandson of the builder of the earlier Riegelsville bridge, was asked to evaluate the new design and felt the need for additional cables of 1+3⁄4 inches (4 cm) diameter, which were added to the plans. [2]
The Riegelsville suspension bridge collected tolls until it was purchased by the Joint Commission for Eliminating Tolls and is currently maintained by the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission [3] using revenues generated from larger, more heavily trafficked crossings. The bridge has a 3-ton weight limit. It was added to the New Jersey Register of Historic Places on March 22, 2010. [4]
John Augustus Roebling was a German-born American civil engineer. He designed and built wire rope suspension bridges, in particular the Brooklyn Bridge, which has been designated as a National Historic Landmark and a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.
The John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge is a suspension bridge that spans the Ohio River between Cincinnati, Ohio, and Covington, Kentucky. When opened on December 1, 1866, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world at 1,057 feet (322 m) main span, which was later overtaken by John A. Roebling's most famous design of the 1883 Brooklyn Bridge at 1,595.5 feet (486.3 m). Pedestrians use the bridge to get between the hotels, bars, restaurants, and parking lots in Northern Kentucky. The bar and restaurant district at the foot of the bridge on the Kentucky side is known as Roebling Point.
The Scudder Falls Bridge is a toll bridge that carries Interstate 295 (I-295) over the Delaware River, connecting Lower Makefield Township in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, with the Scudders Falls section of Ewing Township in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It is maintained by the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission (DRJTBC). The original bridge was a plate girder bridge constructed from 1958 to 1961, and the current structure is a box-girder bridge that partially opened in 2019 and was substantially complete in 2021. Previously, the bridge was a toll-free crossing. However, this changed on July 14, 2019, when an all-electronic toll was levied for Pennsylvania-bound traffic; the toll can be paid using E-ZPass or Toll-by-Plate.
The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission (DRJTBC) is a bistate, public agency that maintains and operates river crossings connecting the U.S. states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The agency's jurisdiction stretches roughly 140 miles (230 km) along the Delaware River from Philadelphia and Bucks County in southeast Pennsylvania and then north through the Lehigh Valley and to Pennsylvania-New York state border.
Roebling's Delaware Aqueduct, also known as the Roebling Bridge, is the oldest existing wire suspension bridge in the United States. It runs 535 feet over the Delaware River, from Minisink Ford, New York, to Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania. Opened in 1849 as an aqueduct connecting two parts of the Delaware & Hudson Canal (D&H), it has since been converted to carry automotive traffic and pedestrians.
The Delaware River–Turnpike Toll Bridge is a four-lane, steel through arch bridge crossing the Delaware River between Burlington Township, Burlington County, New Jersey and Bristol Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. As a part of Interstate 95 (I-95), it is a major highway link between Philadelphia and New York City. The bridge also connects the Pennsylvania Turnpike's east-west mainline with the main trunk of the New Jersey Turnpike, via the Pearl Harbor Memorial Turnpike Extension. Tolls are collected only in the west/southbound direction via electronic toll collection.
The Uhlerstown–Frenchtown Bridge is a free bridge over the Delaware River, owned and operated by the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission. The bridge connects New Jersey Route 12 in Frenchtown of Hunterdon County, New Jersey with Pennsylvania Route 32 in Uhlerstown of Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
The Lumberville–Raven Rock Bridge, also known as the Lumberville Foot Bridge, is a free pedestrian bridge over the Delaware River. The bridge connects Bull's Island Recreation Area near Raven Rock, Delaware Township in Hunterdon County, New Jersey to Lumberville, Solebury Township in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The bridge, which is one of the two exclusively pedestrian bridges over the Delaware River, is owned and operated by the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission.
The New Hope–Lambertville Bridge, officially called the New Hope–Lambertville Toll Supported Bridge, is a six-span, 1,053-foot (321 m)-long bridge spanning the Delaware River that connects Lambertville, New Jersey and New Hope, Pennsylvania. The current steel truss bridge was constructed in 1904 at a cost of $63,818.81. It is owned and maintained as a toll-free bridge by the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission.
The Northampton Street Bridge is a bridge that crosses the Delaware River, connecting Easton, Pennsylvania, and Phillipsburg, New Jersey, United States. It is maintained by the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission despite not being a toll bridge. It is known locally as the "Free Bridge" thus distinguishing it from the Easton–Phillipsburg Toll Bridge just upstream to the north. The crossing was first a ferry crossing run by David Martin, beginning in 1739.
Washington Crossing Bridge is a truss bridge spanning the Delaware River that connects Washington Crossing, Hopewell Township in Mercer County, New Jersey with Washington Crossing, Upper Makefield Township in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. It was built in 1904 by the Taylorsville Delaware Bridge Company. It serves as the connector of Pennsylvania Route 532 on the Pennsylvania side, with County Route 546 on the New Jersey side. The bridge is currently owned and operated by the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission.
The Yardley–Wilburtha Bridge was a bridge spanning the Delaware River. A majority of the bridge was washed away by severe flooding in 1955 and was later demolished in 1961 after the completion of the nearby Scudder Falls Bridge.
The Riverton–Belvidere Bridge is a bridge that crosses the Delaware River and connects Belvidere, New Jersey in the east with Riverton, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania in the west.
The Mid-Delaware Bridge, sometimes known as the Port Jervis–Matamoras Bridge or the Fourth Barrett Bridge, is a continuous truss bridge which carries U.S. Routes 6 and 209 across that river between those two communities and thus the states of New York and Pennsylvania. Although it did have 4-Lanes at one point in its life, it only has 2-Lanes as of today.
The Pond Eddy Bridge is a petit truss bridge spanning the Delaware River between the hamlet of Pond Eddy in Lumberland, New York and the settlement informally called Pond Eddy in Shohola Township, Pennsylvania. It is accessible from NY 97 in Lumberland on the New York side and two dead-end local roads, Flagstone Road and Rosa Road on the Pennsylvania side. The bridge was built in 1903 by the Oswego Bridge Company to replace an old suspension bridge that had washed away in a flood earlier in the year. It connected the bluestone quarries in Pennsylvania to New York.
The Skinners Falls – Milanville Bridge is a bridge spanning the Delaware River between Milanville, Pennsylvania, and Cochecton, New York, in Wayne County, Pennsylvania, and Sullivan County, New York. The bridge is 470 feet (140 m) long and holds one single lane of Skinners Falls Road, a local road. The bridge was constructed by the American Bridge Company and funded by the Milanville Bridge Company. The bridge replaced a ferry run by raftsman Daniel Skinner and his family. The bridge opened in 1902 and remained in service up until recently. It is one of several bridges in Sullivan County that are on the National Register of Historic Places, including the Roebling Aqueduct and Pond Eddy Bridge. The bridge is located with the Milanville Historic District.
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Riegelsville Bridge (ID#4107)