Centre Bridge-Stockton Bridge

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Centre Bridge-Stockton Bridge

Official name	Centre Bridge-Stockton Toll Supported Bridge
Carries	2 lanes of PA 263/CR 523
Crosses	Delaware River
Locale	Stockton, New Jersey and Solebury Township, Pennsylvania
Maintained by	Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission
Design	Truss bridge
Longest span	152 feet (46 m)
Total length	825 feet (251 m)
Width	20 feet (6 m)
Load limit	20 tons
Vertical clearance	12 feet (4 m)
AADT	4,800^[1]
Opening date	1927
Toll	None
Coordinates	40°24′11″N 74°58′46″W / 40.40306, -74.97944Coordinates: 40°24′11″N 74°58′46″W / 40.40306, -74.97944

The Centre Bridge-Stockton Bridge is a free bridge over the Delaware River owned and operated by the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission. The bridge connects CR 523 and NJ 29 in Stockton, in Hunterdon County, New Jersey to PA 263 in Centre Bridge, Solebury Township, Pennsylvania.

1 History
2 Rehabilitation Project
3 The bridge in art & music
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] History

Originally, the Centre Bridge-Stockton Bridge was a covered toll bridge. Built in 1814, it was located at the former site of Reading's Ferry. For many years, the route was called Old York Road, as it was the principal route from Philadelphia to New York City.

In 1829, the bridge was reconstructed. Most of the structure, however, was washed away in the flood of 1841. It was only one of many bridges between Easton, Pennsylvania and Trenton, New Jersey that was destroyed in the flood. The Centre Bridge-Stockton Bridge was rebuilt well enough to be one of the few bridges not washed away by the flood of 1903.

On July 22, 1923, lightning struck the bridge and the resulting fire destroyed the structure.^[2]

For two years after the disaster, the Centre Bridge-Stockton Bridge saw no repairs. Eventually, the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission gained control of the remnants of the bridge, and began rebuilding upon the same piers and abutements on which the first bridge had stood. Having been built higher than before, it escaped damage in the flood of 1955, which damaged many other bridges along the Delaware River.^[3] The current steel truss bridge was completed in 1926 and opened to traffic in 1927.^[2]

[edit] Rehabilitation Project

In September of 2006, the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission awarded Road-Con an $8.4 million contract for the rehabilitation of the Centre Bridge-Stockton Bridge.^[4] For five months, the bridge was closed from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, remaining fully open only on weekends.^[5] Work done on the bridge included blast cleaning and painting the bridge truss, rehabilitating the roadway deck and sidewalk, maing structural repairs, and improving road signs, railings and lighting. As of the middle of May, the total cost of the project was estimated to be $9.4 million.^[6]

[edit] The bridge in art & music

The fire of 1923 was depicted in a famous painting by Edward Willis Redfield who in 1898 had purchased and lived in a farm just north of the bridge.

New Jersey composer Frances White has written two compositions about the bridge: Centre Bridge (1999)^[7] and Centre Bridge (dark river)(2001).^[8] Both were inspired by the sounds of traffic on the metal grating, and both feature recordings of the bridge and river.