The Falls Bridge is a steel

Pratt truss A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements (typically straight) may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

bridge that spans the

Schuylkill River The Schuylkill River ( , ) is a river running northwest to southeast in eastern Pennsylvania. The river was improved by navigations into the Schuylkill Canal, and several of its tributaries drain major parts of Pennsylvania's Coal Region. It f ...

in Fairmount Park in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. It connects Kelly (formerly East River) Drive at Calumet Street with Martin Luther King, Jr. (formerly West River) Drive at Neill Drive. It replaced a wooden covered bridge at the same site. The bridge, with stonemasonry abutments and two stonemasonry piers, with three Pratt-type pin-connected trusses, was built in 1894–1895 at a cost of $262,000 by Filbert Porter & Co. under the direction of Chief Engineer George Smedley Webster (1855–1931) of the Philadelphia Department of Public Works and James H. Windrim, director of the Department of Public Works. The bridge was designed as a double-decker bridge, but the upper deck was never built for lack of funds. The bridge carries two lanes of vehicular traffic on a roadway, with sidewalks on either side, for a total width of . In 2007, blue

LED lights An LED lamp or LED light bulb is an electric light that produces light using light-emitting diodes (LEDs). LED lamps are significantly more energy-efficient than equivalent incandescent lamps and can be significantly more efficient than mos ...

were added to highlight the bridge at night. File:View of Proposed Falls Bridge 1894 (cropped).jpg, "View of Proposed Falls Bridge" (1894) File:Schuylkill river.jpeg, Note the Reading Railroad Bridge and the Falls (Covered) Bridge in this 1872 map. File:View from Laurel Hill cemetery, Phila, by Kilburn Brothers.jpg, "View from Laurel Hill Cemetery." Reading Railroad Bridge, with Falls (Covered) Bridge in the distance (circa 1880s). File:Philadelphia. (Bridge over the Schuylkill River), from Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views.jpg, "Philadelphia. (Bridge over the Schuylkill River)", undated. This photograph may show the Falls (Covered) Bridge.

References

, bridge = Falls Bridge , bridge signs = , upstream = City Avenue Bridges , upstream signs = , downstream =

Twin Bridges Twin bridges are a set of two bridges running parallel to each other. A pair of twin bridges is often referred to collectively as a twin-span or dual-span bridge. Twin bridges are independent structures and each bridge has its own superstructur ...

, downstream signs = US 1

Bridges over the Schuylkill River Bridges completed in 1895 Bridges in Philadelphia Road bridges in Pennsylvania Historic American Engineering Record in Philadelphia Steel bridges in the United States Pratt truss bridges in the United States

See also

References

External links