Saturday, May 17, 2025

1956 I-95/PA+NJ Turnpike Bridge over Delaware River near Florence, NJ

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

This arch-truss bridge has a length of 6571' (2km, 1 1/4 mile) and a main span of 682' (208m). [BridgeHunter]

Street View, May 2022

Photo from Wikimedia Commons via BridgeHunter

Metrotrails posted
PA Turnpike bridge seen from the Florence NJ side, Delaware River
Metrotrails shared

I think it is more accurate to call it a continuous truss instead of an arch truss. I wondered why Historic Bridges didn't document this bridge because Nathan is better at identifying a continuous truss. So, I took a closer look at a gusset plate. It uses bolts instead of rivets. Bolts are Nathan's criteria for a modern bridge instead of a historic bridge. This bridge must be bleeding edge in terms of using bolts. You can see it is a transition of technology because it uses rivets instead of welds to build the beams.
Street View, Sep 2023

I knew the Pennsy Turnpike was I-76 in the Pittsburgh area. I didn't know where the turnpike crossed the Delaware River so I followed I-76 east across the state. When I found myself down in Philadelphia on the Walt Whitman Bridge, I knew that the turnpike must divert to some other Interstate in the east. So I found this map and determined that it goes from I-76 to I-276 and then to I-95 just before the river. 
paturnpike

Just two lanes in each direction carries the east/west traffic of the turnpike and the north/south traffic of I-95. I confirmed that they squeeze three lanes down to two before the bridge. I wonder how much congestion that choke point causes.
Satellite


1 comment:

  1. I believe the bolts were used to upgrade some of the connections later, and the bridge was all riveted at the time of construction. Also, 95 used to take a curious routing from NJ into PA, and was moved to the Turnpike Bridge and ramps upgraded in the mid 2000's.

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