Tacony Palmyra Bridge
Location: Tacony, PA & Palmyra, NJ Waterway: Delaware River Bridge Dimensions: 2,324' in length (3,659' including approaches) & 48' in width Spans: 523' (main steel arch), 247' 6" (main bascule), 2,324' (main & side) Year: 1929	Bridge Type: steel arch and bascule (rising floor section)

BRIDGE HISTORY

The Tacony-Palmyra Ferry Company started operating at this location in 1922. On the Tacony, Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River, the ferry was located near two trolley lines, the Market-Frankfort elevated line and the Pennsylvania Railroad.

Due to growing concerns about delays using the ferry, the Northeast Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce recommended the construction of a bridge at this location. In October 1926, test borings were completed and in January 1927 President Calvin Coolidge signed a bill authorizing the construction of the bridge. In December 1927, the Army Corps of Engineers approved the final design of the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge. The completion of the bridge along with other transportation systems (the Roosevelt Boulevard highway & the Market Street elevated train to Frankfort) made Tacony an integral part of the city of Philadelphia.

The bridge was designed by Rudolph Modjeski who also was the engineer of the Manhattan Bridge and the Benjamin Franklin Bridge.

BRIDGE STRUCTURES

The Tacony - Palmyra Bridge is a bascule bridge. This movable bridge has a device operating like a balance or seesaw by which the rising floor section is counterbalanced by a weight. Powering the bascule span are two rolling lifts. Marine vessels that require more than a 54' vertical clearance of the movable span in the closed position, must request a bridge opening.

View under bridge from Pennsylvania side.		Nine main piers make up the structure of the bridge. Granite facing was used to protect the pier structures.
Wooden fenders supported upon piers were fastened to the sides of the stone piers.		On both ends of the bascule span, the piers rise above the roadway. When the bridge opens (seen closed here), this section of the bridge opens from the center.
View of truss below the road surface.		The six continuous truss spans are of half-though construction with the top chords 10" above the crown of the roadway.
Truss structures as seen from the upstream sidewalk.		Lacing on truss members.
The roadway is 38' wide. At first there were four lanes of traffic, but in 1977, the roadway was changed to three wider lanes of traffic.		The main arch span is parabolic in shape, and is braced by a top lateral system and a bottom lateral system.
Section of the main steel arch span.		Detail of the main steel arch span.
Detail of joint of arch span and lateral structures.		View of arch span above roadway.