1 post tagged “benjamin franklin”

BenjaminFranklinBridge

When you think of San Francisco, you immediately think of the Golden Gate Bridge. Similarly, the Brooklyn Bridge is synonymous with New York City. But how many people actually know about the Benjamin Franklin Bridge in Philadelphia?

Here are some facts about this famous structure that connects Philadelphia to New Jersey and other parts of the East Coast.

• The original name for the bridge was the Delaware River Bridge because it spans that body of water, and the Delaware River Port Authority owns the structure.
• Ralph Modjeski, a Polish-born engineer, helped design the Benjamin Franklin Bridge with Leon Moisseiff, a design engineer, and supervising architect Paul Philippe Cret. 
• At its completion time, the Benjamin Franklin Bridge was the world’s longest suspension bridge. It held that honor until 1929, when builders completed the Ambassador Bridge from the United States to Canada.
• The bridge has pedestrian walkways on both sides for those who want to walk the distance between Philadelphia and Camden, New Jersey. There is a separation between the walkways and the vehicle traffic, and only one side is open at a time. Walkway hours are between 6:00 AM and 6:00 PM.
• There are seven lanes for vehicular traffic. 
• Tolls for passenger cars going across the bridge are $3, but only motorists travelling from Camden to Philadelphia pay them.
• The Benjamin Franklin Bridge is only one of four bridges connecting Philadelphia to southern New Jersey. The three other bridges are the Betsy Ross Bridge, the Walt Whitman Bridge, and the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge. 
• In 2006, director Ryan Oczkowski conducted a production of Godspell at Philadelphia’s Walnut Street Theater. The setting was underneath the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. 
• At first, there were plans to include a trolley line over the bridge. But those plans fell through when engineers used a different type of track on each side of the bridge. The two tracks could not meet in the middle, and the line remained unfinished.  Each of the two stone houses still contains a “phantom railway station” that would have served the trolley line.
• The total length of the bridge is 9,573 feet, or nearly two miles. It sits 135 feet above the Delaware River. 
• Construction began on the bridge on January 6, 1922. The opening date for the Benjamin Franklin Bridge was July 1, 1926. 
• In 1992, officials closed the bridge for three days when the steeple from Philad elphia’s St. Augustine church blew off and landed on the structure. A December windstorm was the culprit, but the incident did not injure anybody.
• Lights illuminate the bridge at night, and its cables resemble piano keys as they light up in succession.  The lights were an addition made to the bridge for its Bicentennial anniversary.
  

The Benjamin Franklin Bridge is one of Philadelphia’s most recognizable structures and the best way to enjoy it is to drive across it at night in your Mercedes-Benz Car.

Don’t leave Philadelphia without experiencing this man-made achievement.