Delaware Bridge

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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.

Route 163 runs from US 46 north to a dead end where the bridge approach was demolished. 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. In August 1955, Hurricane Diane destroyed the road bridge.