Delaware River – Turnpike Toll Bridge

 

Delaware River -Turnpike Toll Bridge
Spans Delaware River
Lanes 2×2
Total length 2,058 meters
main span 208 meters
Bridge deck height 41 meters
Opening 25-05-1956
Traffic intensity 39,000 mvt/day
Location Map

The Delaware River – Turnpike Toll Bridge is a truss bridge in the United States, located on the border of the states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The bridge spans the Delaware River northeast of Philadelphia.

Characteristics

The Delaware River – Turnpike Toll Bridge is an arched steel truss bridge. The bridge deck is connected to the arch with guy cables. The bridge is 2,058 meters long in total, with a main span of 208 meters. The bridge deck is 27 meters wide and is 41 meters above the Delaware River. Crossing the bridge is Interstate 276 (Pennsylvania Turnpike) with 2×2 lanes and emergency lanes.

The bridge is located on the border of the states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, northeast of Philadelphia. The closest places are Bristol, Pennsylvania and Florence, New Jersey. The area surrounding the bridge is residential on the Pennsylvania side, and mainly logistics companies on the New Jersey side. The bridge has a longer bridge, especially on the Pennsylvania side, west of the bridge is the toll plaza of the Pennsylvania Turnpike and a connection to US 13 in Pennsylvania. On the New Jersey side is a connection to the New Jersey Turnpike.

History

The bridge was constructed as part of a link between the Pennsylvania Turnpike and the New Jersey Turnpike, forming part of the Philadelphia North Bypass. The bridge was built by a partnership between the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and the New Jersey Turnpike Authority. The bridge was built in just under 2.5 years between January 1954 and May 1956, the bridge was opened on May 23 or 25, 1956. The bridge is the final piece in a series of toll roads to bypass the Philadelphia area.

Between 2011 and 2013, the guy cables connecting the bridge deck to the arch were replaced. The original 10 centimeter guy cables have been replaced by four 5 centimeter guy cables.

On January 20, 2017, the bridge was closed to all traffic after it was found that a girder of the truss structure under the bridge deck had finally broken down. The bridge reopened on March 9, 2017.

Future

There are plans to widen I-276 to compensate for the never-built Interstate 95 in New Jersey from Trenton to New Brunswick. For this, a junction between I-95 and I-276 will be realized, after which the through traffic will be led over the Delaware River – Turnpike Toll Bridge to the New Jersey Turnpike. A second span would be constructed at the Delaware River – Turnpike Toll Bridge for this purpose.

Toll

The bridge is a toll road as part of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The toll plaza is on the Pennsylvania side. Since 2016, the toll has only been levied towards Pennsylvania, like all toll bridges over the Delaware River. Before that, the toll plaza was the terminus for the closed toll system of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which has since been constructed 10 kilometers to the west. Since January 3, 2016 there has been electronic toll collection with E-ZPass and registration toll. [4] At the time of the introduction of electronic toll collection, 80% of users already had an E-ZPass.

Traffic intensities

In 2014, before the construction of the interchange between I-95 and I-276, 39,000 vehicles used the bridge daily.

Delaware River - Turnpike Toll Bridge