Riegelsville Bridge
Location: Riegelsville, PA & Riegelsville, NJ Waterway: Delaware River Bridge Dimensions: 576' - 9 7/8" in length by 27' - 11 3/8" Span lengths:200' -1", 191' - 2 3/8", and 185' - 6 1/2" (starting in PA) Year: 1904	Bridge Type: 3 span, cable suspension structure with stiffening trusses

BRIDGE HISTORY

The original Riegelsville Bridge was a wooden covered bridge which was first built around 1835. In 1903, a flood came and swept away this wooden bridge; the flood was later named the "Pumpkin Flood". In 1904, a replacement bridge was constructed by John A. Roebling Sons of New York. Roebling designed many suspension bridges including the famous Brooklyn Bridge in connecting Brooklyn and Manhattan in New York City.

BRIDGE STRUCTURES

At Riegelsville Roebling built a three-span suspension bridge with stiffening trusses. He also put in a sixteen foot roadway and a four foot sidewalk. This bridge faced only minor damage when a flood came from hurricane Diane in August of 1955. Not including the steel deck, there are 166 tons of steel in the superstructure, except for the cable which totals 12 tons.

The suspension system consists of two cables, clamped one above the other on either side of the bridge. Lower cable 2 5/8". The upper cable is 1 3/4" and the lower cable is 2 5/8" in diameter.		Cables suspended from steel towers at the abutments and piers and held by wrought iron eyebars embedded in concrete anchorages at each end of the bridge.
Side view of bridge structures.		Cables pass over cast iron saddles at the top of each tower.
Floor beams are suspended from the cables by 1 1/8" diameter hanger rods spaced 5 feet apart.		Four steel truss towers, two on piers, two on abutments . The towers range in height from 20 to 23'.
The sidewalk is 4' 0" and is supported by the cantilevered floor beams on either side of the bridge.		The roadway deck is a five inch deep open grid steel floor of 15' -11 1/2" from curb to curb.