- Commodore Barry Bridge
-
Commodore Barry Bridge 
Official name Commodore John Barry Bridge Carries 5 lanes of US 322 & CR 536 (NJ) & 2 lanes of sidewalk Crosses Delaware River Locale Chester, Pennsylvania to Bridgeport, New Jersey Maintained by Delaware River Port Authority of Pennsylvania and New Jersey Design steel cantilever bridge Total length 4,240.38 meters (13,912 feet) Width 23.47 meters (77 feet) Longest span 501.09 meters (1,644 feet) Clearance below 58.52 meters (192 feet) Opened February 1, 1974 Toll $5.00 (westbound) (E-ZPass) Daily traffic 35,000 Coordinates 39°49′32″N 75°22′06″W / 39.82556°N 75.36833°WCoordinates: 39°49′32″N 75°22′06″W / 39.82556°N 75.36833°W 
The Commodore Barry Bridge is a cantilever bridge that spans the Delaware River from Chester, Pennsylvania to Bridgeport, in Logan Township, New Jersey, USA. It is named after the American Revolutionary War hero and Philadelphia resident John Barry.
Along with the Betsy Ross Bridge, the Benjamin Franklin Bridge and the Walt Whitman Bridge, the Commodore Barry Bridge is one of the four toll bridges connecting the metropolitan Philadelphia region with southern New Jersey owned by the Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA). Both the DRPA and the PennDOT are in the process of building two new exit ramps that will allow motorists to access the Chester Waterfront (via Pennsylvania Route 291) from I-95. Additionally, a deck joint replacement project began in May 2008 with expected completion in 7 months.[1]
Contents
History
Construction of the bridge began on April 14, 1969, and it opened to traffic on February 1, 1974. It has a total length of 13,912 feet (4,240 m), and a main span of 1,644 feet (501 m), making the bridge the fourth longest cantilever bridge in the world, and the longest in the United States.[2] The road has a total of five lanes, divided by a zipper barrier, in which a machine can configure the number of lanes in each direction, depending upon traffic volume or construction. The bridge is designated as part of U.S. Route 322 and has direct connections with U.S. Route 13 and Interstate 95 in Chester and U.S. Route 130 in Bridgeport, with a connection to Interstate 295 and the New Jersey Turnpike within a 5-mile (8.0 km) radius of the bridge. It replaced the earlier Chester-Bridgeport ferry service which ceased operation on January 31, 1974.
Originally created to be a connection to one of the then-proposed freeways in New Jersey, the Commodore Barry Bridge was to connect Interstate 95 near Chester to, at one point, the Atlantic City Expressway near Hammonton, but those plans were eventually scrapped when it was realized that many people in the college town of Glassboro would be affected. There are new talks of possibly upgrading US 322 to a freeway from US 130 to Interstate 295's current Exit 11, or even as far as the New Jersey Turnpike's Exit 2. There is no mention if this new freeway would be included in the Interstate Highway System, though it hasn't been ruled out yet, either.
Tolls
A $5.00 one-way toll is charged entering Pennsylvania for passenger vehicles (less than 7,000 lb (3,200 kg) gross vehicle weight). A $12 credit will be given on a per tag basis for any DRPA-issued E-ZPass tag that crosses one of the four DRPA bridges 18 times in a calendar month. Trucks, Commercial vehicles, mobile homes and recreation vehicles (weighing at least 7,000 lb (3,200 kg). gross vehicle weight), pay $7 cash per axle. Seniors aged 65 and over can use a ticket program to pay $2.00 per trip (not integrated with E-ZPass).
See also
- List of crossings of the Delaware River
- PPL Park, a soccer-specific stadium for the Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer and the Philadelphia Independence of Women's Professional Soccer, is located at the bridge's southwesterly corner.
- Wade Dump, a former Superfund site located under the bridge
References
- ^ Delaware River Port Authority (May 12, 2008). "Traffic Restrictions To Begin On Commodore Barry Bridge". http://www.drpa.org/content.asp?page=News¶m=2&ItemNumber=2433. Retrieved 2008-06-01.
- ^ Durkee, Jackson (1999-05-24). "World’s Longest Bridge Spans". National Steel Bridge Alliance. pp. 24. http://www.aisc.org/Content/ContentGroups/Documents/NSBA5/20_NSBA_LongestSpans.PDF. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
External links
- Commodore Barry Bridge: Historic Overview
- Delaware River Port Authority: Commodore Barry Bridge
- Commodore Barry Bridge at Structurae
Road transportation infrastructure of the metro Philadelphia area Interstates U.S. Routes Pennsylvania Routes New Jersey Routes Delaware Routes Named roads/streets Benjamin Franklin Parkway · Broad Street · City Avenue · Front Street · Girard Avenue · Market Street · Roosevelt Boulevard · South Street · Chestnut Street · Walnut Street
Pennsylvania Turnpike · New Jersey Turnpike · Delaware Turnpike · Atlantic City Expressway · Schuylkill Expressway · Delaware Expressway · Blue Route · Vine St Expressway · North South Freeway · Lancaster Avenue · Bethlehem Pike · Baltimore Pike · Black Horse PikeBridges Delaware Memorial Bridge · Commodore Barry Bridge · Walt Whitman Bridge · Ben Franklin Bridge · Betsy Ross Bridge · Tacony–Palmyra Bridge · Burlington–Bristol Bridge · Delaware River – Turnpike Toll BridgeCrossings of the Delaware River Upstream
Walt Whitman Bridge
Commodore Barry Bridge
Downstream
Delaware Memorial Bridge
Delaware River Port Authority Headquartered in Camden, New Jersey Bridges 
Ferry Rail Infrastructure Affiliations People John J. MatheussenSee Also DRPA Website Categories:- Delaware River Port Authority
- Cantilever bridges
- Toll bridges in New Jersey
- Toll bridges in Pennsylvania
- Bridges completed in 1974
- Bridges over the Delaware River
- Transportation in Gloucester County, New Jersey
- U.S. Route 322
- Transportation in Delaware County, Pennsylvania
- Road bridges in New Jersey
- Road bridges in Pennsylvania
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
