Rockville Bridge, Pennsylvania
Coordinates: 40 ° 20 ′ 0 ″ N , 76 ° 54 ′ 37 ″ W.
| Rockville Bridge | ||
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| use | Railway bridge | |
| Crossing of | Susquehanna River | |
| place | Rockville and Marysville , Pennsylvania | |
| construction | Arch bridge | |
| overall length | 1164 m | |
| width | 16 m | |
| Longest span | 21 m | |
| Clear height | 12 m | |
| opening | 1902 | |
| planner | William H. Brown | |
| location | ||
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The Rockville Bridge is an arched railway bridge over the Susquehanna River between Rockville and Marysville in Pennsylvania , eight kilometers north of Harrisburg . With its 48 arches and a total length of 1164 meters, it has been the longest stone arch bridge in the world for rail traffic since its inauguration in 1902.
history
Today's Rockville Bridge had two previous bridges in the 19th century. In 1849 a single-track wooden bridge was first built. This was replaced in 1877 by a double-track wrought iron bridge, which was built on the bridge piers of its predecessor. Due to the rapid increase in freight traffic at the turn of the century, the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) began building the current four-track bridge in 1900. The Rockville Bridge, designed by the bridge engineer William H. Brown, was built almost parallel to the old bridge. The executing companies Drake & Stratton Co. and HS Kerbaugh from Philadelphia worked from both banks. After completion in 1902, the old iron bridge was demolished.
description
The Rockville Bridge has 48 arch segments with a span of 21 meters each and has a total length of 1164 meters. The bridge consists of a concrete core surrounded by 220,000 tons of sandstone from Clearfield County's quarries . The 47 pillars have a height of 9.6 m from the concrete base to the beginning of the arch and a thickness of 2.4 m there. The clear height of the arches is about 12 m above the water. The 16 m wide bridge originally had four tracks, of which three remain today and are used by the Norfolk Southern Railway and Amtrak .
In 1975, the Rockville Bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP #: 75001640) and classified as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1979 .
literature
- The 3,820-ft Stone Ark Bridge for the Pennsylvania RR, at Rockville, PA. In: Engineering News. Vol. 43, No. 19, 1900, p. 310 f.
- Pennsylvania's Current Work. In: Railway Age. Vol. 31, March 15, 1901, pp. 198-206.
- CW Hardt: The Rockville Bridge of the Pennsylvania. In: Railroad Gazette. Vol. 33, October 25, 1901, pp. 732 f.
- Dan Cupper: Rockville Bridge: Rails Across the Susquehanna. Withers Pub., 2002, ISBN 1-881411-34-6 .
Web links
- Mark Guida: Rockville: The Bridge Built to Last Forever. Pennsylvania Center for the Book, Pennsylvania State University , 2010.
- Rockville Bridge Historical Marker. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
- The PRR's Rockville Bridge. American-Rails.com
- Pennsylvania Railroad, Rockville Bridge. Historic American Engineering Record, HAER No. PA-524.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Lorett Treese: Railroads of Pennsylvania: Fragments of the Past in the Keystone Landscape. Stackpole Books, 2003, ISBN 0-8117-2622-3 , p. 76 f.
- ↑ a b Mark Guida: Rockville: The Bridge Built to Last Forever. ( Memento from December 6, 2013 on the Internet Archive ) Pennsylvania Center for the Book, Pennsylvania State University , 2010.
- ^ A b David M. Berman: Rockville Bridge - National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. ( Memento April 15, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) United State Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1975.
- ↑ Rockville Bridge. visitPA.com, Official Tourism Website of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Retrieved March 12, 2015.