The
Benjamin Franklin Bridge (also known as the
Ben Franklin Bridge), originally named the
Delaware River Bridge, is a
suspension bridgeA suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck is hung below suspension cables on vertical suspenders. Outside Tibet and Bhutan, where the first examples of this type of bridge were built in the 15th century, this type of bridge dates from the early 19th century...
across the
Delaware RiverThe Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...
connecting
Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
and
Camden, New JerseyThe city of Camden is the county seat of Camden County, New Jersey. It is located across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 77,344...
. Named for American
founding fatherThe Founding Fathers of the United States of America were political leaders and statesmen who participated in the American Revolution by signing the United States Declaration of Independence, taking part in the American Revolutionary War, establishing the United States Constitution, or by some...
Benjamin FranklinDr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
, the bridge is owned and operated by the
Delaware River Port AuthorityThe Delaware River Port Authority is a bi-state instrumentality created by a Congressionally approved interstate compact between the governments of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the State of New Jersey...
.
History and use
The chief engineer was Polish-born
Ralph ModjeskiRalph Modjeski was a Polish-born American civil engineer who achieved prominence as a pre-eminent bridge designer in the United States.-Life:...
, its design engineer was
Leon MoisseiffLeon S. Moisseiff was a leading suspension bridge engineer in the United States of America in the 1920s and 1930s. He was awarded The Franklin Institute's Louis E...
, and the supervising architect was
Paul Philippe CretPaul Philippe Cret was a French-American architect and industrial designer. For more than thirty years, he headed the Department of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania.- Biography :...
. At its completion on July 1, 1926, its 1,750 foot (533 meter) span made it the world's longest suspension bridge span, a distinction it would hold until the opening of the
Ambassador BridgeThe Ambassador Bridge is a suspension bridge that connects Detroit, Michigan, in the United States, with Windsor, Ontario, in Canada. It is the busiest international border crossing in North America in terms of trade volume: more than 25 percent of all merchandise trade between the United States...
in 1929.
The bridge currently carries highways
I-676Interstate 676 is an Interstate Highway that serves as a major thoroughfare through Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where it is known as the Vine Street Expressway, and Camden, New Jersey, where it is known as the northern segment of the North–South Freeway, as well as the Martin Luther King Jr....
and
US 30U.S. Route 30 is an east–west main route of the system of United States Numbered Highways, with the highway traveling across the northern tier of the country. It is the third longest U.S. route, after U.S. Route 20 and U.S. Route 6. The western end of the highway is at Astoria, Oregon; the...
, the latter since its opening or very soon thereafter. Before the
1953 New Jersey State Highway renumberingOn January 1, 1953, the New Jersey Department of Transportation renumbered many of the State Routes. A few rules were followed in deciding what to renumber:...
,
Route 25Route 25 was a major state highway in New Jersey, United States prior to the 1953 renumbering, running from the Benjamin Franklin Bridge in Camden to the Holland Tunnel in Jersey City. The number was retired in the renumbering, as the whole road was followed by various U.S. Routes - U.S...
, Route 43 and
Route 45Route 45 is a state highway in the southern part of New Jersey, United States. It runs from Route 49 in Salem, Salem County, northeast to U.S. Route 130 in Westville, Gloucester County. Much of the southern part of the route runs through rural areas of Salem and Gloucester counties, passing...
ended in the middle of the bridge. The bridge also carries the
Port Authority Transit CorporationThe PATCO Speedline, also known colloquially as the High Speed Line, is a rapid transit system operated by the Port Authority Transit Corporation, which runs between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Camden County, New Jersey...
's Lindenwold High-Speed Line (PATCO Speedline) via connecting tunnels on both sides of the bridge.
Pedestrian walkways run along both sides of the bridge, elevated over and separated from the vehicular lanes; of these, only one is open at a time. Walkway hours are 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. The DRPA temporarily closed the walkways to the public the day after the
7 July 2005 London bombingsThe 7 July 2005 London bombings were a series of co-ordinated suicide attacks in the United Kingdom, targeting civilians using London's public transport system during the morning rush hour....
, citing security concerns. The DRPA also closes the walkway after snowfall, or if the weather forecast includes a chance of snowfall, and closed it in late August 2011 during
Hurricane IreneHurricane Irene was a large and powerful Atlantic hurricane that left extensive flood and wind damage along its path through the Caribbean, the United States East Coast and as far north as Atlantic Canada in 2011...
.
The seven vehicular lanes are divided by a concrete
"zipper" barrierBarrier transfer machines, also known as zipper machines, are heavy vehicles used to transfer Jersey barriers or other concrete lane dividers used to relieve traffic congestion during rush hours....
, which can be mechanically moved to configure the lanes for traffic volume or construction. Red and green signals mounted on overhead gantries indicate which lanes are open or closed to traffic in each direction. The lights indicate closures for construction, accidents or breakdown as well as traffic separation. Generally, during the morning rush hour, there are four lanes open westbound and three eastbound, with the situation reversed during the evening rush hour. Before the zipper barrier was installed, one lane of the bridge was kept closed at peak times to reduce the risk of head-on collisions as there was no physical barrier separating east and westbound traffic.
The bridge's original design included six vehicular lanes and two streetcar tracks on the main deck, with provision for a rapid transit track in each direction outboard of the deck's stiffening trusses, which rise above the deck rather than lie beneath it. The tracks were built to the nonstandard broad gauge of the Public Service Company of New Jersey's Camden streetcar system; the design called for the cars to cross the bridge from Camden to Philadelphia, enter an underground terminal beneath the bridge's west entrance plaza, and return to Camden via the opposite track. Streetcar stations were also built in the bridge's anchorages. None of the streetcar facilities were ever placed in service, as Public Service ran no cars across the bridge from its opening until the company abandoned its Camden streetcar system in 1932; after that, the tracks were removed and the space converted to vehicular lanes. The outer pair of rapid transit tracks went into service in 1936 with the opening of the Bridge Line subway connecting Broadway and City Hall in Camden with 8th and Market streets in Philadelphia; the Bridge Line, extended to 16th and Locust in 1952, began carrying
PATCOThe PATCO Speedline, also known colloquially as the High Speed Line, is a rapid transit system operated by the Port Authority Transit Corporation, which runs between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Camden County, New Jersey...
trains in 1969.
Along with the
Betsy RossThe Betsy Ross Bridge is a continuous truss bridge spanning the Delaware River from Philadelphia to Pennsauken, New Jersey. It was originally planned as the Delair Bridge, after a paralleling vertical lift bridge owned by Pennsylvania Railroad , but was instead named for Betsy Ross, reputed creator...
,
Walt WhitmanThe Walt Whitman Bridge is a green-colored single-level suspension bridge spanning the Delaware River from Philadelphia to Gloucester City, New Jersey. Named after the poet Walt Whitman, who resided in nearby Camden toward the end of his life, the Walt Whitman Bridge is one of the larger bridges...
, and
Tacony-Palmyra BridgeThe Tacony–Palmyra Bridge is a combination steel arch, double-leaf bascule bridge across the Delaware River, connecting New Jersey Route 73 in Palmyra, New Jersey and Pennsylvania Route 73 in the Tacony section of Philadelphia. The bridge has a total length of 3,659 feet and spans 2,324 feet . It...
s, the Benjamin Franklin is one of four primary vehicular bridges between Philadelphia and southern New Jersey. The
Commodore Barry BridgeThe Commodore Barry Bridge is a cantilever bridge that spans the Delaware River from Chester, Pennsylvania to Bridgeport, in Logan Township, New Jersey, USA...
in
Delaware CountyDelaware County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of 2010, the population was 558,979, making it Pennsylvania's fifth most populous county, behind Philadelphia, Allegheny, Montgomery, and Bucks counties....
, Pennsylvania and the
Burlington-Bristol BridgeThe Burlington–Bristol Bridge is a truss bridge with a lift span crossing the Delaware River from Burlington, New Jersey to Bristol Township, Pennsylvania in the United States. Construction of the bridge started on April 1, 1930, and the bridge opened to traffic on May 2, 1931...
in
Bucks County- Industry and commerce :The boroughs of Bristol and Morrisville were prominent industrial centers along the Northeast Corridor during World War II. Suburban development accelerated in Lower Bucks in the 1950s with the opening of Levittown, Pennsylvania, the second such "Levittown" designed by...
, Pennsylvania connect suburban Philadelphia with southern New Jersey.
Tolls
- A $5.00 one-way toll is charged entering Pennsylvania for passenger vehicles (less than 7000 lb (3,175.1 kg) gross vehicle weight).
- A $6 credit will be given on a per-tag basis for any DRPA-issued E-ZPass
E-ZPass is an electronic toll-collection system used on most tolled roads, bridges, and tunnels in the northeastern US, south to Virginia and West Virginia, and west to Illinois. Currently, there are 25 agencies spread across 14 states that make up the . All member agencies use the same technology,...
tag that crosses one of the four DRPA bridges 18 times in a calendar month.
- Trucks, commercial vehicles, mobile homes, and recreation vehicles (weighing at least 7000 lb (3,175.1 kg). gross vehicle weight), pay $7 per axle.
- Seniors aged 65 and over can use a ticket program to pay $2 per trip (not integrated with E-ZPass).
Cultural references
- A May–July 2006 production of the musical Godspell
Godspell is a musical by Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak. It opened off Broadway on May 17, 1971, and has played in various touring companies and revivals many times since, including a 2011 revival now playing on Broadway...
at the historic Walnut Street TheatreThe Walnut Street Theatre , located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at 825 Walnut Street, is the oldest continuously operating theatre in the English-speaking world and the oldest in the United States...
in Philadelphia, directed by Ryan Oczkowski, was set under the Franklin Bridge, with Jesus' followers portrayed as homeless who live in a shanty there.
- The bridge is one of the landmarks seen in the opening credits of the television series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is an American television sitcom that premiered on FX on August 4, 2005. New episodes continue to air on FX, with reruns playing on Comedy Central, general broadcast syndication, and WGN America—the first-ever cable-to-cable syndication deal for a sitcom...
.
External links