Wright's Ferry Bridge
| Wright's Ferry Bridge |
|
| Other name(s) |
Susquhanna River Bridge, Route 30 Bridge, Route 30 Intercounty Bridge |
| Carries |
U.S. Route 30 |
| Crosses |
Susquehanna River |
| Locale |
Wrightsville, Pennsylvania and Columbia, Pennsylvania |
| Maintained by |
PennDOT |
| Design |
reinforced concrete and steel; divided four-lane highway |
| Longest span |
22 equal sections approximately 500ft long on two spans (11 each direction)on 45 piers |
| Opened |
November 21, 1972 |
| Toll |
none |
The Wright's Ferry Bridge carries U.S. Route 30 over the Susquehanna River between Columbia, Pennsylvania and Wrightsville, Pennsylvania and commemorates the first ferry crossing the Susquehanna (Wright's Ferry) is therefore (historically) considered a Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge, the fifth, though the fourth Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge it augments (and might have replaced) is still carrying the Lincoln Highway, unusually, according to local naming.[notes 1]
Also informally known locally as the Route 30 bridge, it was commissioned by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the 1960s to relocate Route 30 and bypass the river towns of Wrightsville and Columbia. Construction started in March 1969 with G.A. & F.C. Wagman, Inc. as the general contractor.
It was completed in 1972 at a cost of $12,000,000 and opened November 21, 1972 under its present commemorative historical name (Wright's Ferry being both the historic Ferry's[notes 2] and so one of Columbia's former names). It is constructed of reinforced concrete and steel and has 46 equal sections on 45 piers. U.S. Route 30 crosses it as a divided four-lane roadway. About a year after its opening, the bridge was shut down briefly so that an experimental weather-resistant coating could be applied to its roadway. Tolls were never collected on this bridge, the sixth to cross the river in this general location.
See also
References
- Columbia, the Gem, Bill Kloidt, Sr. 1994, Miffilin Press, Inc
- Fire on the River, The Defense of the World’s Longest Covered Bridge and How It Changed the Battle of Gettysburg, George Sheldon, 2006, Quaker Hills Press, Inc. ISBN 0-9779315-0-1, 978-0-9779315-0-7.
Notes
- ^ Most regions replace addresses enumerated as Lincoln Highway or National Pike with terminology prefixing (the natural language prefix) "Old" creating expensive but temporary confusions and dislocations for businesses and residents as everyone adjusts to the new addresses. So bypassed roads throughout much of the country have changed the local references and mailing addresses (names, in other words) for their two lane (1913 act based) era federal highways such as Old Lincoln Highway, or Old National Pike. The renamed 'Old Road Name' labels sometimes are given an auxiliary highway designation by the DOT, see Bannered routes of U.S. Route 30, for such alternate routes. The Route 30 stretch near this bridge must locally be colloquially called New Lincoln Highway, for the local politics retained the Lincoln Highway title on the original roadbed, locally now Pennsylvania Route 462. The thirty miles of Route 462 are currently labeled on internet digital map software still as the Lincoln Highway.
- ^ The construction (sic) and opening of the 1730 colonial Wright's Ferry triggered the nine years of armed clashes during Cresap's War in the border dispute between Maryland and Pennsylvania settled only by the Mason-Dixon Line (1767) and, consequently the east bank settlement was long called Wright's Ferry, and so also became one of Columbia's former names.
External links