1949,1978 Chesapeake City, 1960/87 Summit and 1942,2001,2010 St. Georges Bridges over Chesapeake & Delaware Canal

St. Georges: (John A Weeks III; Satellite)

Summit Bridge: (John A Weeks III: Satellite)

Chesapeake City: (John A Weeks III; Satellite)

These are the two tied-arch bridges on the C&D Canal. These bridges replaced lift bridges that were built when the sea-level canal was built by 1927. The canal and ships had grown large enough that the lift bridges became a "hazard to navigation." That is, ships kept alliding with the bridges. And the lift bridges had a tendency to get stuck. So these bridges were built in the 1940s with the piers on the banks of the canal, out of harm's way. But the piers are now back in the canal because it was widened from 250' to 450' in the 1960 and 70s. [John Weeks and Dennis DeBruler]

St. Georges Bridge:

John Weeks_george

Summit Bridge

John Weeks_summit
"The original Summit Bridge was located about 3/4 of a mile to the east. It was a wooden covered bridge. It was 250 feet long and stood 90 feet above the canal channel. This bridge was removed when the canal was expanded in the 1920s. The replacement bridge was a steel lift bridge. That bridge was repeatedly struck by ships. It was finally retired in the early 1960s when the canal was widened to 450 feet. The current Summit Bridge was built by the US Army Corps of Engineers to cross the new wider canal channel in 1960."

Chesapeake City Bridge:

John Weeks_city

Dann Marine Towing posted

Check out this week's feature photo!!! 

M/V Ivory Coast towing the empty Cement Transporter 6500 Eastbound through C&D Canal enroute to South Jersey Port - Camden, NJ. 

Photo credit: Hunter Dann

The tug is going under the Chesapeake City Bridge because these are the houses in the right background of that photo.

Street View, Aug 2016

Peter Moreno posted two photos with the comment: "Chesapeake City Bridge crossing the Chesapeake and Delaware canal in Chesapeake City Maryland."

1

2

Bridges Now and Then posted
"Summit Bridge over the C&D Canal, 1970. Taken by Lloyd Teitsworth and Miss Dee Andrews" (Delaware Public Archives)
[Note the Pennsy Lift Bridge in the background. The suspension bridge carries a pipeline.]

Joseph Gann: As of 1970, the bridges from west-to-east: Chesapeake City, Summit, Pipeline, MD-DE Railroad, St Georges, and Delaware City (Reedy Pt). Insert the Roth Bridge in between the railroad and St Georges for today's arrangement.

Timothy Todd: Joseph Gann the Chesapeake City and St. Georges Bridges are identical in design.