| Roebling's Delaware Aqueduct | |
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the restored bridge, in 2011 |
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| Other name(s) | Roebling Bridge |
| Carries | Motor vehicles, pedestrians |
| Crosses | Delaware River |
| Locale | Minisink Ford, New York to Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania. |
| Maintained by | National Park Service |
| Design | Suspension bridge |
| Total length | 535 feet (175 m) |
| Opened | 1847 |
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Roebling's Delaware Aqueduct, also known as the Roebling Bridge, is the oldest existing wire suspension bridge in the United States. It runs 535 feet (175 meters) from Minisink Ford, New York to Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania over the Delaware River. Opening in 1847 as an aqueduct carrying water, and connecting two parts of the Delaware & Hudson Canal (D & H), it has since been converted to carry automotive traffic and pedestrians.
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The bridge was begun in 1847 as one of four suspension aqueducts on the D & H Canal, a system of transportation connecting the coal fields of northeastern Pennsylvania with markets on the Hudson River. The canal operated from 1828 until 1898, with enlargements after the 1840s.
The bridge was designed by and built under the supervision of John A. Roebling, who would design the Brooklyn Bridge twenty years later.
Two important local industries with conflicting needs brought about construction of Roebling's Delaware and Lackawaxen Aqueducts: canal traffic and timber rafting. Since the mid-18th century, timber from the Delaware valley had been floated down the Delaware to shipyards and industries in Trenton and Philadelphia. The D & H Canal operated a rope ferry crossing of the Delaware at Lackawaxen but it created a major bottleneck before the aqueduct was built, and there were numerous collisions with timber rafts headed downstream. In 1847, to alleviate both problems, the D & H Canal Company approved Russel F. Lord's plan to substitute two new aqueducts in place of the rope ferry.
After evaluating several options, Lord recommended designs submitted by John A. Roebling who had already built a wire suspension aqueduct at Pittsburgh in 1845. To raise the canal from ground level to a height sufficient to allow adequate space for the passage of ice floes and river traffic, Roeblings design called for a series of three locks to constructed on the eastern side.[1]
An immediate success, the Delaware Aqueduct – which cost $41,750 – and the Lackawaxen Aqueduct – which cost $18,650, and of which only the abutments remain – reduced canal travel time by one full day, saving thousands of dollars annually..
After the closing of the canal in 1898, the aqueduct was drained and converted for use as a vehicular bridge. Eventually the canal sides and towpaths (walkways for those pulling barges) were removed. It operated as a toll bridge for wagons and later motor vehicles until 1979.
Portions of the D & H Canal, including the Delaware Aqueduct, were designated a National Historic Landmark in 1968. The Delaware Aqueduct is also designated a National Civil Engineering Landmark.
The bridge was bought by the National Park Service in 1980. The agency reconstructed the bridge's superstructure from Roebling's original plans and specfication in 1986, and in 1995, the wooden icebreakers, towpaths and aqueduct walls were reconstructed, restoring the bridge's original appearance as an aqueduct. The bridge is now part of the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River.[2]
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Park Service.
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