The Edison Bridge (officially the Thomas Alva Edison Memorial Bridge) is a bridge on

U.S. Route 9 U.S. Route 9 (US 9) is a north–south United States highway in the states of Delaware, New Jersey, and New York in the Northeastern United States. It is one of only two U.S. Highways with a ferry connection (the Cape May–Lewes Ferry, between ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, spanning the

Raritan River Raritan River is a major river of New Jersey. Its watershed drains much of the mountainous area of the central part of the state, emptying into the Raritan Bay on the Atlantic Ocean. History Geologists assert that the lower Raritan provided t ...

near its mouth in

Raritan Bay Raritan Bay is a bay located at the southern portion of Lower New York Bay between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey and is part of the New York Bight. The bay is bounded on the northwest by New York's Staten Island, on the west by Per ...

. The bridge, which connects Woodbridge on the north with Sayreville on the south, was opened to weekend traffic starting on October 11, 1940, and was opened permanently on November 15, 1940. As of 2003, the bridge carries more than 82,000 vehicles daily and is owned and operated by the

New Jersey Department of Transportation The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) is the agency responsible for transportation issues and policy in New Jersey, including maintaining and operating the state's highway and public road system, planning and developing transporta ...

. It also runs directly parallel to the

Driscoll Bridge The Governor Alfred E. Driscoll Bridge, also known as the Driscoll Bridge is a toll bridge (with a series of three spans) on the Garden State Parkway in the U.S. state of New Jersey spanning the Raritan River near its mouth in Raritan Bay. The bri ...

, which carries the

Garden State Parkway The Garden State Parkway (GSP) is a controlled-access toll road that stretches the north–south length of eastern New Jersey from the state's southernmost tip near Cape May to the New York state line at Montvale. Its name refers to New Jerse ...

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 Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventi ...

. Construction on the bridge was started on September 26, 1938. The Edison Bridge was officially dedicated on December 14, 1940, with the ribbon cut by Mrs. Mina Edison Hughes, widow of the inventor. Also participating in the ceremonies were

New Jersey Governor The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The official res ...

A. Harry Moore, and then Governor-elect

Charles Edison Charles Edison (August 3, 1890 – July 31, 1969) was an American politician, businessman, inventor and animal behaviorist. He was the Assistant and then United States Secretary of the Navy, and served as the 42nd governor of New Jersey. Commonly ...

, 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 . 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 in length, consisting of a span flanked by two spans, and would set a new U.S. record for length. The two other continuous girders were each in length, consisting of three spans. The final cost of the bridge was $4,696,000. More than of masonry, 50 percent buried from sight, went into the foundations, piers, and deck of the bridge. Over 2,500,000 pounds (1,133.98 metric tons) of reinforcing steel and 19,000,000 pounds (8,618.26 metric tons) 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 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 "The Ellis S. Vieser Memorial Bridge" in a bill sponsored by Senator Joseph Kyrillos. Senate Bill 2689, State of New Jersey, 209th Legislature
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References

External links

*
History and Technology of the Edison and Driscoll Bridges
{{Crossings navbox , structure = Bridges , place =

, bridge = Edison Bridge , bridge signs = US 9

, upstream =

, upstream signs = GSPkwy Shield

, downstream =

Victory Bridge Victory Bridge may refer to: * Victory Bridge (Yerevan), in Yerevan, Armenia * Victory Bridge (New Jersey), in Middlesex County, New Jersey * Victory Bridge (Florida), in Sneads, Florida * Veresk Bridge The Veresk bridge ( fa, پل ورسک) is a ...

, downstream signs = Circle sign 35

Bridges over the Raritan River Woodbridge Township, New Jersey U.S. Route 9 Bridges completed in 1940 Historic American Engineering Record in New Jersey Road bridges in New Jersey Bridges of the United States Numbered Highway System Bridges in Middlesex County, New Jersey Steel bridges in the United States Girder bridges in the United States 1940 establishments in New Jersey

Construction

Rehabilitation

See also

References

External links