- Edison Bridge (New Jersey)
The Edison Bridge (officially the Thomas Alva Edison Memorial Bridge) is a bridge on US 9 in the
U.S. state ofNew Jersey spanning theRaritan River near its mouth inRaritan Bay . The bridge, which connects Woodbridge Township on the north with Sayreville on the south, was opened to weekend traffic starting onOctober 11 ,1940 , and was opened permanently onNovember 15 ,1940 ."Jersey Dedicates The Edison Bridge; Inventor's Widow Cuts Ribbon On $4,696,000 Span Over The Raritan River Structure A Defense Aid. Erected to Ease Congestion-- Governor and Governor-Elect Attend Ceremony", "The New York Times ",December 15 ,1940 . p. 46.] As of 2003, the bridge carries more than 82,000 vehicles daily and is owned and operated by theNew Jersey Department of Transportation .Construction
The design of the Edison Bridge was the direct responsibility of
Morris Goodkind , chief engineer of the bridge division of the New Jersey State Highway Department, a position he had held since 1925.The bridge is named for
Thomas Edison . Construction on the bridge was started onSeptember 26 ,1938 . The Edison Bridge was officially dedicated onDecember 14 ,1940 , with the ribbon cut by Mrs. Mina Edison Hughes, widow of the inventor. Also participating in the ceremonies wereNew Jersey Governor A. Harry Moore , and then Governor-electCharles Edison , son of the inventor, along with the bridge's designer, Morris Goodkind.The final design called for a bridge with 29 spans and an overall length of convert|4391|ft|m. The nine spans over the river would consist of three continuous span girders of record-setting proportions. The main girder over the navigation channel would be 650' in length, consisting of a 250' span flanked by two 200' spans, and would set a new U.S. record for length. The two other continuous girders were each 600' in length, consisting of three 200' spans.
The final cost of the bridge was $4,696,000. More than convert|65000|cuyd|m3 of masonry, 50 percent buried from sight, went into the foundations, piers, and deck of the bridge. Over 2,500,000 pounds of reinforcing steel and 19,000,000 pounds of structural steel were used.
Rehabilitation
As part of a $48 million construction project, a major overhaul of the aging sixty-year old bridge was undertaken, to address issues relating to the advanced age of the structure and to bring it up to the latest highway standards. The rehabilitated northbound span of the bridge was opened on to traffic on
October 21 ,2003 , and marked the long-awaited conversion of the old Route 9 Edison Bridge from a one-span, 4-lane structure with no shoulders to a two-span bridge with a total of six lanes with shoulders. On November 19, 2001, the southbound span was officially renamed "TheEllis S Vieser Memorial Bridge", in a bill sponsored by SenatorJoseph Kyrillos . Senate Bill 2689, State of New Jersey, 209th Legislature [http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2000/Bills/s3000/2689_i1.htm] ]ee also
List of crossings of the Raritan River References
External links
* [http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/publicat/pdf/History/history.pdf History and Technology of the Edison and Driscoll Bridges]
* [http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/press/2003releases/102103.htm NJDOT press release regarding reopening of the northbound rehabilitated span]Crossings navbox
structure = Bridges
place =Raritan River
bridge = Edison Bridge
bridge signs =
upstream =Driscoll Bridge
upstream signs =
downstream = Victory Bridge
downstream signs =
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