The Summit Bridge carries Delaware Routes 71 and

896 __NOTOC__ Year 896 ( DCCCXCVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * February – King Arnulf of Carinthia invades Italy at the head of an East ...

across the

Chesapeake & Delaware Canal The Chesapeake & Delaware Canal (C&D Canal) is a -long, -wide and -deep ship canal that connects the Delaware River with the Chesapeake Bay in the states of Delaware and Maryland in the United States. In the mid‑17th century, mapmaker Augus ...

. The bridge also carries Delaware Bicycle Route 1, a bicycle route that spans the length of the state of Delaware, across the canal. The Summit Bridge opened to traffic on January 9, 1960, replacing a

lift bridge A vertical-lift bridge or just lift bridge is a type of movable bridge in which a span rises vertically while remaining parallel with the deck. The vertical lift offers several benefits over other movable bridges such as the bascule and swin ...

. Before the bridge opened to traffic, a dedication ceremony was held, with U.S. Senator

J. Allen Frear Jr. Joseph Allen Frear Jr. (March 7, 1903 – January 15, 1993) was an American businessman and politician. A Democrat, he served as a United States Senator from Delaware from 1949 to 1961. He was defeated for a third term by Republican politician J ...

in attendance. The Summit Bridge was the second four-lane high-level crossing in Delaware and was designed to carry an eventual

US 301 U.S. Route 301 (US 301) is a spur of U.S. Route 1 running through the South Atlantic States. It runs from Biddles Corner, Delaware at Delaware Route 1 to Sarasota, Florida at U.S. Route 41. It passes through the states of Delaware, Mar ...

freeway, however that planned freeway was never built on the alignment utilizing the Summit Bridge. US 301 did use the bridge when it was routed along surface roads from 1961 to 2019, at which time it was rerouted onto a new toll freeway. The current bridge replaces a former swing span structure that was demolished when the

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

rerouted the canal to a new sea-level channel south of

Lums Pond State Park Lums Pond State Park is a Delaware state park near Bear, New Castle County, Delaware in the United States. The park surrounds Lums Pond, an impoundment built by the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal on St. Georges Creek. The C&D built the pond as a ...

. A construction project on the approaches to the bridge was completed in Fall of 2012.

References

External links

* Bridges completed in 1960 Chesapeake & Delaware Canal Bridges in New Castle County, Delaware Road bridges in Delaware U.S. Route 301 Bridges of the United States Numbered Highway System Cantilever bridges in the United States Truss bridges in the United States {{Delaware-bridge-struct-stub

See also

References

External links