Roebling's Delaware Aqueduct, also known as the Roebling Bridge, is the oldest existing wire suspension bridge in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. It runs over the Delaware River, from Minisink Ford, New York, to

Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania Lackawaxen is an unincorporated community in Lackawaxen Township, Pike County, Pennsylvania, United States. The community is located at the confluence of the Delaware and Lackawaxen Rivers, the former of which forms the state line with New York. ...

. Opened in 1849 as an aqueduct connecting two parts of the

Delaware & Hudson Canal The Delaware and Hudson Canal was the first venture of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, which would later build the Delaware and Hudson Railway. Between 1828 and 1899, the canal's barges carried anthracite coal from the mines of northeaster ...

(D&H), it has since been converted to carry automotive traffic and pedestrians.

Construction

The bridge begun in 1847 as one of four suspension aqueducts on the D&H Canal, a system of transportation connecting the

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as stratum, rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen ...

fields of northeastern

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, Ma ...

with markets on the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between Ne ...

. The canal opened in 1828, was enlarged after the 1840s, and closed in 1898. RoeblingDelawareAqueduct2 crop

Russell F. Lord and John A. Roebling designed the bridge and supervised its construction. Two important local industries with conflicting needs brought about construction of Roebling's Delaware and Lackawaxen Aqueducts: canal traffic and

timber rafting Timber rafting is a method of transporting felled tree trunks by tying them together to make rafts, which are then drifted or pulled downriver, or across a lake or other body of water. It is arguably, after log driving, the second cheapest me ...

. Since the mid-18th century, timber from the Delaware valley had been floated down the river to shipyards and industries in Trenton and

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. The D&H Canal's rope ferry crossing of the Delaware at Lackawaxen created a bottleneck, and there were numerous collisions with timber rafts headed downstream. In 1846, to alleviate both problems, the D&H Canal Company approved Russell F. Lord's plan to substitute two new aqueducts in place of the rope ferry. After evaluating several options, Lord recommended designs submitted by John A. Roebling, who had already built a wire suspension aqueduct at

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

in 1845. To raise the canal enough to allow the passage of ice floes and river traffic, Lord's plan called for three locks to be built on the eastern side. An immediate success, the Delaware Aqueduct — which cost $41,750 – and the Lackawaxen Aqueduct — which cost $18,650, and of which only the abutments remain – reduced canal travel time by one full day, saving thousands of dollars annually.

Post-construction history

After the canal closed in 1898, the aqueduct was drained and converted into a vehicular bridge. Eventually, the canal sides and towpaths (walkways for those pulling barges) were removed. It operated as a toll bridge for wagons and, later, motor vehicles until 1979. Portions of the D&H Canal, including the Delaware Aqueduct, were designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1968. The Delaware Aqueduct was also designated by the

American Society of Civil Engineers American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

as a

National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark __NOTOC__ The following is a list of Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks as designated by the American Society of Civil Engineers since it began the program in 1964. The designation is granted to projects, structures, and sites in the United State ...

in 1972. The

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government within the United States Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of ...

bought the bridge in 1980. The agency rebuilt the bridge's superstructure from Roebling's original plans and specification in 1986, and in 1995, the wooden icebreakers, towpaths and aqueduct walls were reconstructed, restoring the bridge's original appearance as an aqueduct. The bridge is now part of the

Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River The Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River is a unit of the National Park Service designated under the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. It stretches along of the Delaware River between Hancock, New York, and Sparrowbush, New York ...

br>"Roebling's Delaware Aqueduct
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References

Notes Sources * Further reading *

External links

* * * * * {{National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Bridges completed in 1847 Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Bridges over the Delaware River Bridges in Sullivan County, New York Bridges in Pike County, Pennsylvania Historic American Engineering Record in New York (state) Historic American Engineering Record in Pennsylvania Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks National Register of Historic Places in Sullivan County, New York Suspension bridges in Pennsylvania Suspension bridges in New York (state) Tourist attractions in Sullivan County, New York Former toll bridges in New York (state) Former toll bridges in Pennsylvania 1847 establishments in the United States Interstate vehicle bridges in the United States Wooden bridges in New York (state) Wooden bridges in Pennsylvania Aqueducts in the United States

Construction

Post-construction history

See also

References

External links