The Delaware Memorial Bridge is a dual-span suspension bridge crossing the Delaware River. The

toll bridge A toll bridge is a bridge where a monetary charge (or '' toll'') is required to pass over. Generally the private or public owner, builder and maintainer of the bridge uses the toll to recoup their investment, in much the same way as a toll road ...

s carry Interstate 295 and U.S. Route 40 and is also the link between Delaware and

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 ...

. The bridge was designed by the firm known today as HNTB with consulting help from engineer Othmar Ammann, whose other designs include the Walt Whitman Bridge (which is similar in appearance to each of the Delaware Memorial Bridge spans, except for being a single span with more lanes) and the

Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge ( ) is a suspension bridge connecting the New York City boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn. It spans the Narrows, a body of water linking the relatively enclosed New York Harbor with Lower New York Bay and t ...

. It is also one of only two crossings of the Delaware River with both U.S. Highway and Interstate Highway designations, the other being the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. The bridges provide a regional connection for long-distance travelers. While not a part of Interstate 95, they connect two parts of the highway: the Delaware Turnpike (

Interstate 95 in Delaware Interstate 95 (I-95) is an Interstate highway running along the East Coast of the United States from Miami, Florida, north to the Canadian border in Houlton, Maine. In the state of Delaware, the route runs for across the Wilmington area i ...

) on the south side with the New Jersey Turnpike (later Interstate 95 in New Jersey) on the north side. They also connect Interstate 495, U.S. Route 13, and Route 9 in

New Castle, Delaware New Castle is a city in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. The city is located six miles (10 km) south of Wilmington and is situated on the Delaware River. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 5,285. History New Castl ...

with U.S. Route 130 in Pennsville Township, New Jersey (at the settlement of

Deepwater, New Jersey Deepwater is an unincorporated community located within Pennsville Township, in Salem County, New Jersey, United States.L ...

). The bridges are dedicated to those from both New Jersey and Delaware who died in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Persian Gulf War. On the Delaware side of the bridge is a War Memorial, visible from the northbound-side lanes. The toll facility is operated by the

Delaware River and Bay Authority The Delaware River and Bay Authority or DRBA is a bi-state government agency of the U.S. states of New Jersey and Delaware established by an interstate compact in 1962. The authority operates the Delaware Memorial twin suspension bridges, t ...

. The Delaware Memorial Bridge is the southernmost and the largest fixed vehicular crossing of the Delaware River. It is also the only fixed vehicular crossing between Delaware and New Jersey. However, at Fort Mott, New Jersey, there is a small amount of land on the New Jersey side of the river that is part of the

State of Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

, and thus there are pedestrian crossings in between those states, but not spanning the river. The Cape May–Lewes Ferry provides an alternate route between travelers from New Jersey and the Northeastern states to southern Delaware.

History

The first span

Following the opening of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge 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 ...

, residents of Delaware and New Jersey began to advocate a crossing of the river in the area of Wilmington, Delaware. As commercial pressures mounted, a ferry service began, as an interim measure, to run in 1926, near the bridge's current location. Advocates of a

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

crossing between Delaware and New Jersey faced strong opposition from the Philadelphia Port Authorities, which claimed that the bridge would be a menace to navigation. The

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

and U.S. Coast Guard were also concerned that the bridge would be vulnerable to an enemy attack. If the bridge were to collapse into the river, it could render the

Philadelphia Navy Yard The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard was an important naval shipyard of the United States for almost two centuries. Philadelphia's original navy yard, begun in 1776 on Front Street and Federal Street in what is now the Pennsport section of the ci ...

unusable. As traffic by cars and truck increased rapidly, the benefits of a bridge in this area became evident, and its construction was authorized by the highway departments of Delaware and New Jersey in 1945. Originally, a two-lane highway tunnel was considered, but the costs for a four-lane bridge was found to be equivalent in price, therefore being the reason a four-lane bridge was chosen.

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

approved the bridge project on July 13, 1946, and its construction began on February 1, 1949. The project cost $44 million, and it took two years to complete the high span with towers reaching above water level. The first span opened to traffic on August 16, 1951, and at the time was the sixth-longest main suspension span in the world. The

Governor of Delaware A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

, Elbert N. Carvel, and the Governor of New Jersey, Alfred E. Driscoll, dedicated the bridge to each state's war dead from

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. The bridge quickly proved a popular travel route when the New Jersey Turnpike connection was completed at its north end. By 1955, nearly eight million vehicles were crossing the bridge each year, nearly twice the original projection. By 1960, the bridge was carrying more than 15 million cars and trucks per year, and this increased even more when the bridge was linked to the new Delaware Turnpike, Interstate 95, in November 1963.

The second span

Construction of the second span began in mid-1964, north of the original span. At a cost of $77 million, the second span of the Delaware Memorial Bridge opened on September 12, 1968, and was dedicated to those soldiers from Delaware and New Jersey killed in the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

and

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

. The original span was closed down for fifteen months for refurbishment: its suspenders were replaced and its deck and median barrier were removed and replaced with a single deck to allow four undivided lanes of traffic. Finally, on December 29, 1969, all eight lanes of the Delaware Memorial Bridge Twin Span opened to traffic, making it the world's second longest twin suspension bridge. While they are similar in basic appearance, major differences can be seen between the original and second spans. The original span was constructed of riveted steel plates, and it has an open-grate shoulder access walk. In contrast, the second span was constructed mostly of welded steel plates (with heavy riveted joints in crucial areas) and it has concrete access walks. The original suspension span carries northbound traffic for Interstate 295, whereas the newer span carries the southbound traffic. Crossover lanes on each side of the bridge can allow for two-way traffic on one span if the other has to be closed for an extensive period of time.

1969–present

The bridge had a close call with disaster when on July 9, 1969, the oil tanker ''Regent Liverpool'' struck the fender system protecting the tower piers. The bridge itself was spared damage, but the fender suffered about $1.0 million in damage. The Delaware River and Bay Authority (DRBA) began a $13 million project in 2003 to resurface the bridge, refurbish the expansion joints, upgrade the electrical system, and replace the elevators in the four towers. This work was completed in 2008. In 2022 the DRBA began a project to apply ultra-high performance concrete to the driving surface of the eastbound span. , more than 80,000 vehicles cross the twin spans on their combined total of eight lanes daily. On clear days, the skyline of

is visible in the distance on the left going to New Jersey and on the right leaving New Jersey. Wilmington, Delaware, only a few miles away from the bridge, is also visible. Other landmarks that can be seen from the bridge includes the cooling tower for PSEG's Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Station near

Salem, New Jersey Salem is a city in Salem County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the city's population was 5,146,

, the Delaware City Refinery in Delaware City, Delaware, the Reedy Point Bridge, also in Delaware City, both the St. Georges Bridge and the Senator William V. Roth Jr. Bridge in St. Georges, Delaware, and the

Commodore Barry Bridge The Commodore Barry Bridge (also known as the Commodore John Barry Bridge or John Barry Bridge) is a cantilever bridge that spans the Delaware River from Chester, Pennsylvania to Bridgeport, in Logan Township, New Jersey. It is named after the A ...

in Chester, Pennsylvania. The largest single day of traffic had 79,488 private and commercial vehicles cross the bridge one-way on November 29, 2009. The largest single weekend for traffic totals had 211,685 vehicles cross the bridge one-way, August 16–18, 2019.

Toll

One-way tolls for traffic entering Delaware (westbound) were instituted in 1992. , the toll is $5.00 for passenger vehicles using cash and $4.75 using a Delaware or New Jersey issued E-ZPass. Frequent Traveler discounts are available. About $270,000 in tolls are collected daily. The DRBA has originally proposed to raise the toll from $4.00 to $5.00 on March 1, 2019, however New Jersey Governor

Phil Murphy Philip Dunton Murphy (born August 16, 1957) is an American financier, diplomat, and politician serving as the 56th governor of New Jersey since January 2018. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the United States ambassador to Germa ...

vetoed this plan on January 3, 2019. In February, the DRBA and the governors of Delaware and New Jersey reached an agreement which postponed the toll hike to May 1, as well as providing a 25 cent E-ZPass discount for passenger vehicles. The frequent traveler rate increased from $1.25 to $1.75. Prior to the introduction of E-ZPass, both tokens and frequent traveler tickets were used, with special, discounted ticket books for local residents. They were phased out upon the introduction of the new system, and the tokens are no longer valid.

War Memorial

Since opening of the first bridge in 1951, annual ceremonies are held at the bridge's War Memorial on

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...

and

Veterans Day Veterans Day (originally known as Armistice Day) is a federal holiday in the United States observed annually on November 11, for honoring military veterans of the United States Armed Forces (who were discharged under conditions other than d ...

to honor the sacrifices of American war veterans. The memorial is located in Veterans Memorial Park in

, and it features a reflecting pool, a statue of a soldier, and a wall containing the names of 15,000 men and women from Delaware and New Jersey who were killed in

, the

, the War in Vietnam, and the

Persian Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

Gallery

File:Delaware Memorial Bridge1.jpg, An atmospheric setting as the Delaware Memorial Bridge is approached from the Delaware side, 2017 File:Delaware-New Jersey State Line on DMB (southbound).jpg, Delaware/New Jersey State Line marked on southbound span of Delaware Memorial Bridge File:Delaware River and Bay Authority headquarters by Matthew Bisanz.jpg,

headquarters in the bridge toll plaza

References

External links

*
Delaware State Code Title 17, Chapter 3
Legal framework for Delaware Memorial Bridge

Legal framework for Delaware River and Bay Authority

* * * {{Authority control Bridges completed in 1951 Bridges completed in 1968 Bridges over the Delaware River Bridges in New Castle County, Delaware Transportation buildings and structures in Salem County, New Jersey Interstate 95 Delaware River and Bay Authority facilities World War II memorials in the United States Monuments and memorials in Delaware Monuments and memorials in New Jersey Suspension bridges in the United States Toll bridges in Delaware Toll bridges in New Jersey Tolled sections of Interstate Highways U.S. Route 40 Road bridges in New Jersey Road bridges in Delaware Bridges by Othmar Ammann Bridges on the Interstate Highway System Bridges of the United States Numbered Highway System Towers in Delaware Steel bridges in the United States Pennsville Township, New Jersey Buildings and structures in New Castle, Delaware Interstate vehicle bridges in the United States 1951 establishments in Delaware 1951 establishments in New Jersey