1808+1895,1986 Falls Bridge over Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, PA

1808: (Bridge Hunter)

1895: (Archived Bridge Hunter link didn't work; Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; HAER; Satellite, 313 photos)

Street View, Dec 2022

 

HAER PA, 51-PHILA, 701--13 (CT)
13. GENERAL VIEW - Falls Bridge, Spanning Schuylkill River, connecting East & West River Drives, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA

 

upenn, Photo by Jack Boucher, Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division, Public Domain

John Brady posted two photos with the comment: "Falls Bridge over the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. It was designed for a second deck up top but the road was never built."

Jason Lupeituu: Did you take that today [Jan 10, 2024] with the flooding?

John Brady: Yes

Jason Lupeituu: Benjamin Kranefeld Yeah it was a bad storm, if it was snow / blizzard we’d have upwards of 3-4 feet of snow.

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I wanted to see what a more normal river level looked like on the piers. This view makes it obvious that the truss in pin connected.

Street View, May 2023

This rendering shows the planned use of the upper deck.

WorkshopOfTheWorld, "Rendering of proposed Falls Bridge" (1894). HAER
The falls for which this bridge is named is now covered up by the slack pool of the Fairmount Weir.

The motif is the "tree of life." [DiscoveerEastFalls] Kudos to Philadelphia for not destroying the original railings.

Street View, Oct 20223

A planned two year rehabilitation of the bridge will restore, rather than replace, the railings. The traffic lanes will be reduced from 13' to 11' to "calm traffic" and to provide a 2' buffer between the traffic and the sidewalks. [phila] (Our town keeps traffic lanes at 10' even if there is more room because they don't want drivers to feel like they are on an expressway. (12' lanes are the Interstate standard.) A 13' lane is too big for city traffic.)

DiscoveerEastFalls
"Though many of Philadelphia’s historic bridges were lit in celebration of the country’s Bicentennial in 1976, the Falls Bridge was not. Fast forward to the turn of the millennium in 2000. With the backing of then Governor Edward G. Rendell, EFDC solicited competitive designs to “Light the Falls Bridge.” The winning design, selected by East Falls neighbors and friends, was funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) and implemented in 2004."

Photo of a plaque by Raymond Klein via BridgeHunter

The first of the seven bridges:

BridgeHunter_1808

BridgeHunter_1808