Delaware Bridge

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This article is about a former bridge across the Delaware River south of the Delaware Water Gap. For other bridges across that river, see List of crossings of the Delaware River.

The Delaware Bridge was a road bridge over the Delaware River, connecting the settlement of Delaware, New Jersey with Portland, Pennsylvania. Until 1953, it carried U.S. Route 46 over the river. The bridge has been destroyed, but the approaches are still state-maintained as Route 163 in New Jersey and State Route 1039 in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. A still-existing bridge carries an abandoned ex-Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad line across the river just north of the former road crossing.

The unsigned Route 163 runs 0.30 miles (0.48 km) from US 46 north to a dead end on the east side of US 46, all in Knowlton Township, New Jersey. From the dead end, the bridge approach continued northwest and west over US 46 to the bridge. Route 1039 runs from the former bridge in Upper Mount Bethel Township, Pennsylvania north alongside the railroad to Route 611 and the Portland-Columbia Toll Bridge in Portland.

[edit] History

The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad bridge opened in 1856 as part of their main line. However, the road bridge in the area, built in 1869, was the Portland-Columbia Bridge further north; Myeres Ferry provided a crossing at Delaware, connecting to Ferry Lane on the New Jersey side.

The Delaware Bridge was built just south of the railroad bridge after 1893, possibly built as part of the pre-1927 Route 5 project across New Jersey. The road in New Jersey was taken over from the county by 1925, becoming part of Route 6 in the 1927 renumbering and U.S. Route 46 in the 1953 renumbering (dual-signed from 1935 to 1953). When Pennsylvania numbered its routes, it was at first numbered Route 987, marked as US 46 in 1935.

The new Portland-Columbia Toll Bridge opened December 1, 1953, and US 46 was shifted to end at Columbia, New Jersey. The bridge approaches then became Routes 163 and 1039. In August 1955, Hurricane Diane destroyed the road bridge.