25th Street Elevated
The 25th Street Elevated (also: 25th street bridge , German: Hochbahn 25. Straße ) is an elevated railway in the southwest of Philadelphia in the US state of Pennsylvania . The approximately two-kilometer-long structure above the street of the same name is used exclusively for freight traffic and is built in the Art Deco style.
The viaduct was built between 1926 and 1928 by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) as part of an unfinished rail freight ring and is now part of the Harrisburg subdivision of the CSX Transportation railway company .
Emergence
In the second half of the 19th century, Philadelphia was characterized by strong growth. At the same time, the city was criss-crossed by more and more railroad lines, which connected the respective main lines of the competing railroad companies Reading Railroad , Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) and Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) with numerous industrial plants in the city area. The area between Washington Avenue and the southern outskirts on the Delaware bank was particularly affected.
Thus, on the part of local politicians, the desire arose to consolidate these rather uncoordinated railway tracks, which would hinder road traffic and urban development as a whole. The railway companies in the southern part of the city should in future limit themselves to a single, ring-shaped freight railway without crossing . Corresponding plans were delayed again and again due to lack of money and disputes regarding the route.
It was not until shortly before the First World War that the southern section of the so-called Belt Line was completed. The western part above 25th Street was finally built in the form of the existing elevated railway in the years 1926–1928. The other two sections, however, were no longer realized, including a similar construction along Washington Avenue.
Construction and appearance
The elevated railway runs for a length of about 2000 meters in a south-north direction above South 25th Street between Passyunk Avenue and Washington Avenue. It stands on two rows of Doric columns 16 "–6 '(5.03 m) high, on each of which a 4" -4' (1.32 m) thick rests. On top of this, somewhat lower cross members are placed at even, narrow intervals. These extend beyond the side members to under the side parapets. The pillars and longitudinal beams have a steel core that is encased in concrete, whereas the cross beams and parapets are made of real reinforced concrete .
Columns, beams and parapets are kept in the Art Deco style and thus represent an architectural style that was typical for public buildings in Philadelphia at the beginning of the 20th century.
The structure is designed for three tracks and has a corresponding width. In addition, industrial companies still had to be supplied at some points along the route. For the corresponding siding, the viaduct was laterally widened by appropriately shaped tables . However, none of these branches is in operation anymore.
The viaduct has come under fire in recent years due to its poor state of construction.
See also
Web links
- Historic American Engineering Record: Pennsylvania Railroad, 25th Street Elevated, Above South Twenty-fifth Street, from Washington A, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA , in: Historic American Engineering Record (Library of Congress), Library of Congress, Prints and Photograph Division , Washington, DC 20540 USA. (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Gwen Shaffer: Tracking Down Answers - Council members take CSX to task for its business practices in the city. ( Memento from December 15, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) . In: Philadelphia Weekly, Nov. 23, 2005.