Delaware Memorial Bridge
Coordinates: 39 ° 41 ′ 21 ″ N , 75 ° 31 ′ 8 ″ W.
| Delaware Memorial Bridge | ||
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| Convicted |
 
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| Subjugated | Delaware River | |
| place | Pennsville, New Jersey , New Castle (Delaware) | |
| Entertained by | Delaware River and Bay Authority | |
| construction | Suspension bridge | |
| overall length | 1st bridge (traffic going north): 3281 m 2nd bridge (traffic going north): 3291 m |
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| width | 18 m each | |
| Longest span | 655 m | |
| Headroom | 5 m | |
| Clear height | 57 m | |
| building-costs | 1st bridge: $ 44 million 2nd bridge: $ 77 million |
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| start of building | 1st bridge: February 1st, 1949 2nd bridge: 1964 |
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| opening | 1st bridge: August 16, 1951 2nd bridge: September 12, 1968 |
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| planner | Othmar Ammann | |
| toll | $ 4 towards Delaware | |
| location | ||
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The Delaware Memorial Bridge is a highway bridge that consists of two side-by-side suspension bridges and leads Interstate I-295 together with US Highway 40 from New Jersey over the Delaware River to Delaware . The bridge bears its name in memories of the fallen of both states from the following wars: Second World War , Korean War , Vietnam War , Operation Desert Storm .
planning
As early as the 1920s, the local population wanted a bridge between South New Jersey and the Wilmington - New Castle (Delaware) region in Delaware. After the Benjamin Franklin Bridge opened in 1926 , such a structure seemed even more feasible. In 1926, a ferry service between Pennsville, New Jersey and New Castle (Delaware) was established as a temporary solution . The plans for a bridge were initially fought from two sides: the Philadelphia Port Authority and local trade organizations feared an obstacle to shipping and the War Department feared that in the event of war the bridge could be the target of attacks and, if destroyed, access to the ones upstream Philadelphia Navy Yard could cut off.
When the traffic skyrocketed after World War II and led to hours of traffic jams in front of the ferry, the authorities finally saw the bridge was a necessity, so in 1946 Congress approved the construction of the bridge.
The first bridge
The bridge was designed by Othmar Ammann and built by the American Bridge Company . Construction began on February 1, 1949, and opened on August 16, 1951. Construction costs totaled 44 million US dollars. It is dedicated to those who fell in the Second World War in both neighboring countries.
The suspension bridge is 3281 meters long, with the access ramps about four kilometers long. The pylons are 127 meters high and carry the stiffening girder at a height of 57 meters with two 1250 meter long suspension cables . The suspension cables are 50 cm thick. Each cable consists of 19 strands, each consisting of 436 wires with a wire thickness of 4.7 mm. In total, around 20,000 kilometers of wire were spun using the air spinning method.
The foundations of the pylons have a footprint of approximately 30 × 65 meters. The foundations consist of caissons that were sunk about thirty meters into the ground and each filled with 27,000 tons of concrete. Concreting took seven days and was the longest uninterrupted pouring process in history at the time. The anchor blocks each consist of 23,200 tons of concrete. They were erected behind a coffer dam measuring 30 × 70 meters and 20 meters deep .
The second bridge
The four lanes of the first bridge quickly became too tight for traffic. Just one year after the opening, more than twice as many vehicles were counted as had been calculated in advance. Instead of the planned annual 3.6 million vehicles, 6.7 million vehicles already used the bridge in 1952 and in the 1960s it was even more than 15 million, so it was decided to build a second bridge north of the existing one.
Construction began in the summer of 1964. Except for a few details, the bridge was designed in the same way as the first, only the lanes were rebuilt 4 m wide instead of 3.65 m in order to do justice to the new wider car models. A signal system was also installed, which allows lanes to be blocked or released for oncoming traffic. Construction costs were $ 77 million. The bridge opened on September 12, 1968. It is dedicated to those who fell in the Korean War and the Vietnam War in both neighboring countries.
After the opening of the second bridge, the first bridge was closed for maintenance work, during which the central guardrail was removed and the lanes were widened. On December 29, 1969, the first bridge was operational again. It directs traffic north while the second bridge directs traffic south.
On July 9, 1969, the tanker Regent Liverpool rammed the fender system that protects the pylons from collisions. The bridge itself was not damaged, but the cost of repairing the fender system was $ 1 million.
Since 1992 the bridge toll has only been levied in the south.
Web links
- Delaware Memorial Bridge on Philyroads
- Delaware Memorial Bridge (1951). In: Structurae
- Delaware Memorial Bridge (1968). In: Structurae
Individual evidence
- ^ Delaware Memorial Bridge. Delaware River and Bay Authority, accessed May 19, 2013 .
- ↑ a b c Delaware Memorial Bridge. In: Philyroads . Retrieved May 20, 2013 .