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."

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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.

1829+1927+1938+1970s Chesapeake & Delaware (C&D) Canals

(Satellite, the lock that remains from the original canal.)

The Chesapeake & Delaware Canal connects the two bays of its namesake near the tips of the bays. (Another description of the canal with a photo of each bridge across it.)

It appears the C & D Canal Museum has preserved some of the machinery that was used to run the locks. The canal was opened in 1829 with an expense of $2.5m. It was one of the most expensive projects of its time. It opened with a 10' draft and was 66' wide at the waterline and 36' wide at the channel bottom. The USACE bought it in 1919 for $2.5m and by 1927 had converted it to a sea-level operation with a 12' depth and a 90' width at a cost of $10m. During 1933-38, $13m was spent to expand it to 27' x 250'. During the 1960s and 70s, the canal was expanded to today's 35' x 450'. The cost of the final expansion is notably missing from the history. [USACE]

The channel width is 450' and, starting in the 1970s, a dredging program maintains a 35' depth. But I don't know how that 35' is measured with respect to the tide range of 3' at Chesapeake City and 5.5' at Ready Point. When the railroad bridge is down, it has a clearance of 45'. The clearance of the span in the raised position is 138'. I think the implication is that these clearances are measured with respect to Mean High Water (MHW). The clearances of the other bridges over the canal vary between 134' and 138'. Even though there are no locks, the 450' width of the channel and bends in the canal impose limits on the length of the ships. Ships with a beam of 190' and a length of 960' have used the canal as long as they have bow thrusters. Tug and tow vessels are still limited to a length of 760' and a combined restriction of 190'. (I assume the "combined restriction" is the width of the tow when the barges are lashed together.) "The Canal shortens the trip between Baltimore and New York by approximately 155 miles which saves a vessel both time, an estimated 6.5 hours, and expense" [Google: Chesapeake and Delaware Canal - Baltimore Harbor Connecting Channels ...] The canal is 15 miles long and handles 40% of the shipping in and out of the Port of Baltimore. [John Weeks Canal]

Chuck Sanders, Mar 2017
[This must be a model of one of the dredgers used to maintain the 35' draft of the canal.]

N Su, Aug 2019

USACE-bridges

CLAIM TO FAME

The Chesapeake & Delaware Canal is the only canal built in 19th-century America that still operates today as a major shipping route. It was one of the first civil engineering projects proposed in the New World and one of the most difficult to carry out.

[ASCE]

2 of 3 photos posted by First State Update with the comment: "Atlantic Enterprise tug pulling the Chesapeake 1000 barge crane to Baltimore - C&D Canal entrance at Reedy Point at approximately 2:45 [Mar 28, 2024] - photos submitted."

[It is being moved to help with the salvage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.]

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8 drone photos of the bridges over the canal

First State Update posted three images with the comment: "The Chesapeake & Delaware Canal was originally constructed with a system of lift locks to manage the changes in water level between the Delaware River and the Elk River on Chesapeake Bay. Early canal plans and construction in the 1820s included multiple locks along the route, with lock chambers at Delaware City, St. Georges, and two at Chesapeake City, each initially about 100 feet long and 22 feet wide and later enlarged as traffic grew. These locks and associated pumping equipment lifted vessels over the Delmarva Peninsula when the canal opened for business in 1829 and remained in operation throughout the 19th century until the federal government converted the waterway to a sea-level canal in the 1920s. During the modernization, all of the original locks except the eastern lock at Delaware City were removed, and the canal was deepened and widened for unrestricted maritime traffic. The surviving lock at Delaware City has since been preserved as a historic structure."

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The original route of the canal.

1904/61 Wilmington Quad @ 62,500

The easternmost lock was not removed because they built the sea-level canal straight through the swamp.

1948/65 Delaware City Quad @ 24,000

DCR/NS/Pennsy Bridge over Chesapeake & Delaware Canal near Summit Bridge, DE

1910s?: (Bridge Hunter) Steel girder swing span

1925: (Bridge Hunter) Lift bridge

1966: (Bridge Hunter; John A Weeks III; Satellite) Lift bridge with Warren span

Why yet another RR lift bridge? Because this one goes over a canal of which I was unaware. The Chesapeake & Delaware Canal connects the two bays of its namesake near the tips of the bays. 

This 1966 bridge replaced a 1925 lift bridge when the canal was enlarged and straightened.

John Weeks
The new lift bridge is a monster. For example, railroad lift bridges on the Mississippi River typically raise to about 50 feet above the water. In comparison, this bridge is 40 feet above the water in its fully down position. In the up position, it raises to 138 feet above the water.
Railfans tell me that the Conrail Bridge is normally maintained in the open position unless a train is due. If the bridge is down, boats can contact the bridge operator via marine radio. The operator is located in Philadelphia and runs the bridge by remote control. The bridge was in the down position during my visit, but did lift up briefly to allow a sail boat to pass under the structure. It is reported that most of the rail traffic is scheduled to take place at night when canal traffic is the lowest.
The photo above is a view looking east down the channel of the C&D Canal towards the west face of the Conrail Bridge. Due to a slight curve in the channel, our vantage point on the north shore of the canal makes it look like we are in the middle of the channel. The bush in the lower left corner gives away our true position on the edge of the canal bank.

Even though it is remote controlled, the bridge went only as high as needed to clear the boat. I've seen other lift bridges still going up after the boat had already passed under the bridge! Or is the bridge still going up in this photo? I guess I can't tell how how good the remote control is of this bridge.

John Weeks

Jonathan Konopka posted
This is the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal Lift Bridge, which is located about 15 miles southwest of Wilmington, Delaware. It is a vertical lift bridge that was built in 1966 and carries a Delmarva Central Railroad rail line over the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal.

Facebook Reel
Ted Gregory shared

Here we can see the channel under the 1925 lift bridge is being filled in so that it can be removed. It was removed in 1972.

BridgeHunter-1925

Bridges Now and Then posted
"It took several charges to bring down the old railroad bridge that spanned the Chesapeake & Canal in this photo taken on June 25, 1971. The bridge became unnecessary after the Army Corps of Engineers eliminated a bend in the canal years prior." (Al Connell/The News Journal)

Drew Eppley commented on the above post
It appears to have been where the Summit North Marina entrance is located today along the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal.

Drew Eppley commentd on his comment
"An aerial view of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal as seen in this photograph taken on December 22, 1965." 📷SRC: The News Journal Staff

The rest of the old channel was not filled in. The west side is now used by a marina.

Satellite

Ed Sharpe posted
April 20, 2017 near Summit Bridge, Delaware
Northbound Norfolk Southern train crossing Canal Moveable Bridge over the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal with train picked up from Delmarva Central Railroad at Clay siding north of Clayton, Delaware.
Photograph by Ed Sharpe
Ed Sharpe shared

Photo taken by Timothy and Joann Phillips in October 2018 via Bridge Hunter-1966,  License: Released into public domain

By Anthony Bley, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Public Domain, via Wikipedia
A RORO ship passes underneath the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal Lift Bridge. The bridge carries a single railroad track across the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal in New Castle County, Delaware, USA.

 

Facebook Reel

GreyPon3: Would have been nice to see it going down. [I had the same thought. Of course, NS is going after a railfan audience, not bridge fans.]

David Costello: I believe Norfolk Southern leased the line to the Delaware Central?

Chuck Sanders, Mar 2017, this image has been moved to "Chesapeake & Delaware Canal"

N Su, Aug 2019, this image has been moved to "Chesapeake & Delaware Canal"

USACE-bridges, this image has been moved to "Chesapeake & Delaware Canal"