Upper Black Eddy–Milford Bridge

Upper Black Eddy–Milford Bridge
Upper Black Eddy–Milford Bridge
	The Upper Black Eddy–Milford Bridge
Coordinates	40°33′59″N 75°05′55″W / 40.5664°N 75.0986°WCoordinates: 40°33′59″N 75°05′55″W / 40.5664°N 75.0986°W
Carries	Bridge Street
Crosses	Delaware River
Locale	Milford, New Jersey and Upper Black Eddy, Pennsylvania
Maintained by	Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission
Characteristics
Design	Truss bridge
Statistics
Toll	None
Location

The Upper Black Eddy–Milford Bridge is a free bridge over the Delaware River, owned and operated by the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission. The bridge carries Bridge Street, connecting CR 519 in Milford, Hunterdon County, New Jersey, with Pennsylvania Route 32 in Upper Black Eddy, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The bridge currently has a 55-ton weight limit, the heaviest free bridge on the Delaware.

History[]

Some structural details of the bridge

Following a great flood in 1841, the original wood timbered, covered bridge was built in 1842, to accommodate business needs that ferries could not handle. The bridge was severely damaged by the flood of 1903 in which it lost one of its three wooden spans. The ferry was put back into service while the bridge was repaired however, and the wood spans remained in use until replaced by the current steel bridge in 1933; only the stone piers were reused at that time. The bridge charged tolls until 1929.^[1]

Two more floods damaged the bridge, including the Flood of 1955 in the aftermath of both Hurricane Connie and Hurricane Diane. The 1955 flood left the bridge under seven feet of water, and while not completely destroying the bridge, did cause structural damage.^[2]