| Reading Railroad Bridge over Schuylkill River | |
|---|---|
| Official name | Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, Schuylkill River Viaduct |
| Other name(s) | Falls Bridge, or Falls Rail Bridge |
| Carries | railroad |
| Crosses | Schuylkill River, Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, Kelly Drive |
| Locale | Fairmount Park, Philadelphia |
| Designer | Gustavus A. Nicolls |
| Design | Stone ribbed skew arch |
| Opened | 1856 |
The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, Schuylkill River Viaduct, also called the Reading Railroad Bridge or the Falls Bridge or the Falls Rail Bridge (but not to be confused with the vehicular bridge of that name), is a stone arch bridge that spans the Schuylkill River at Falls of Schuylkill, in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
It replaced an adjacent Philadelphia and Reading Railroad bridge, built of wood. Prior to that, a series of covered bridges crossed the Schuylkill River at this location. Before them, an early suspension bridge, the 1808 Chain Bridge at Falls of Schuylkill, was here.
It was built by the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, 1853–56, to carry coal cars to the company's coal terminal on the Delaware River in Port Richmond, Philadelphia.
The bridge's design is unusual. Because it crossed the river at an angle, it was constructed as a ribbed skew arch bridge, with each of the spans composed of a stepped series of stone arches. These were easier to build than spans of skewed barrel vaults, while still assuring that the bridge's abutments were parallel to the water flow.
The bridge consists of six main spans, each 78 feet in length, crossing the river and Kelly Drive, and five small arches, each 9 feet in length, for pedestrian traffic, and a 30-foot arch over Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive. The bridge's spandrel walls were reinforced in 1935. The bridge continues to carry rail traffic to this day.
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