The Uhlerstown–Frenchtown Bridge is a free bridge over the

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and is the longest free-flowing (undammed) river in the Eastern United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock, New York, the river flows for a ...

, owned and operated by the

Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission (DRJTBC) is a bistate, public agency that maintains and operates river crossings connecting the U.S. states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The agency's jurisdiction stretches roughly along the D ...

. The bridge connects

New Jersey Route 12 Route 12 is a state highway located in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, Hunterdon County, New Jersey, United States. It runs from the Uhlerstown–Frenchtown Bridge at the Delaware River border with Pennsylvania in Frenchtown, New Jersey, French ...

in Frenchtown of

Hunterdon County, New Jersey Hunterdon County is a county located in the western section of the U.S. state of New Jersey. At the 2020 census, the county was the state's 4th-least populous county,Pennsylvania Route 32 Pennsylvania Route 32 (PA 32) is a scenic two-lane highway that runs along the west side of the Delaware River in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Signed north-south, it runs from U.S. Route 1 in Pennsylvania, U.S. Route 1 (US 1) in Falls Township, Bu ...

in Uhlerstown of

Bucks County, Pennsylvania Bucks County is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 646,538, making it the List of counties in Pennsylvania, four ...

. The existing bridge has a roadway width of . A pedestrian walkway is supported on steel

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cantilev ...

brackets A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. They come in four main pairs of shapes, as given in the box to the right, which also gives their n ...

. The bridge maintains a speed limit. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on May 19, 1994 as part of the Frenchtown Historic District

History

The community known as Frenchtown, New Jersey, was once intended to be called Alexandria, after one of its original owners and developers. The land was sold in 1776 to one Thomas Lowrey, a speculator from nearby Flemington who built a

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...

and a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

. Eventually it took its name in honor of Paul Henri Mallet-Prevost, a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

fugitive A fugitive or runaway is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from jail, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals. A fugitive from justice, also known ...

from the French Revolution who purchased the land in 1794. Mallet-Prevost spoke

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

and the town became known as French's Town, then Frenchtown. The settlement across the river in Pennsylvania was at that time called

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

although,Richman, Steven. M, "The Bridges of New Jersey", page 80, Rutgers University Press, 2005, it would change its name in 1871 in honor of its first postmaster, Michael Uhler, a significant figure in the commercial and industrial development of the town. In 1829, construction began on the

Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania Canal The Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania Canal, more commonly called the Delaware Canal, runs for parallel to the right bank of the Delaware River from the entry locks near the mouth of the Lehigh River and terminal end of the Lehigh Canal at ...

which ran from

Easton, Pennsylvania Easton is a city in and the county seat of Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city's population was 28,127 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Easton is located at the confluence of the Lehigh River and the Delawa ...

south to

Bristol, Pennsylvania Bristol is a borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located northeast of Center City, Philadelphia, Center City in Philadelphia opposite Burlington, New Jersey, on the Delaware River. Bristol was s ...

. The canal closely paralleled the river, running through Mexico and supporting commerce well on the Pennsylvania side of the river. On the opposite shore, by 1855, the

Belvidere and Delaware Railroad The Belvidere-Delaware Railroad (Bel-Del, 1851–1871) was a railroad running along the eastern shore of the Delaware River from Trenton, New Jersey north via Phillipsburg, New Jersey to Manunka Chunk, New Jersey. It became an important feeder l ...

would allow fast transportation north and south between

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County, New Jersey, Mercer County. It was the federal capital, capital of the United States from November 1 until D ...

and

Belvidere, New Jersey Belvidere is a town and the county seat of Warren County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.New ...

, north of Phillipsburg. Since at least 1690, transportation east–west across the Delaware had been served by ferries. Both towns were developing in manufacturing and commerce and would soon outgrow the capacity of a ferry service. By 1840 plans were being made to construct a bridge across the river and the Alexandria Bridge Company was soon established.Dale, Frank T.,"Bridges over the Delaware River", page 47, Rutgers University Press, 2003,

Early bridges

The first bridge was a six span, wooden,

covered bridge A covered bridge is a timber-truss bridge with a roof, decking, and siding, which in most covered bridges create an almost complete enclosure. The purpose of the covering is to protect the wooden structural members from the weather. Uncovered woo ...

built upon five

stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

and

masonry Masonry is the craft of building a structure with brick, stone, or similar material, including mortar plastering which are often laid in, bound, and pasted together by mortar (masonry), mortar. The term ''masonry'' can also refer to the buildin ...

pier A pier is a raised structure that rises above a body of water and usually juts out from its shore, typically supported by piling, piles or column, pillars, and provides above-water access to offshore areas. Frequent pier uses include fishing, b ...

s and two

abutment An abutment is the substructure at the ends of a bridge span or dam supporting its superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end that provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining walls ...

s. The six spans totalled more than one thousand feet in length and the bridge, completed in about one year at a total cost of $20,000, opened in the early part of 1844. The worst recorded

flood A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...

at that time had occurred in 1841, thus sparing the new bridge possible catastrophe. It sustained some repairable

superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...

damage in the flood of 1862. It likewise survived near disaster on June 29, 1878, when the Bridge Street business district of Frenchtown was largely consumed by fire. The covered bridge was less fortunate on October 10, 1903 when another major flood raced downstream, taking with it the two spans nearest the Jersey shore. Within a year, the missing spans were rebuilt as steel trusses and the bridge stood as a combined wood and steel structure until 1931.

Current bridge

The Joint Bridge Commission purchased the entire privately owned

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 ...

for $45,000 in 1929, and rebuilt the bridge in 1931 saving but the original piers and abutments which were recapped and repointed. The new bridge is a six span

Warren truss In structural engineering, a Warren truss or equilateral truss is a type of truss employing a weight-saving design based upon Triangle, equilateral triangles. It is named after the British engineer James Warren (engineer), James Warren, who pat ...

of through design and

rivet A rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener. Before being installed, a rivet consists of a smooth cylinder (geometry), cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. The end opposite the head is called the ''tail''. On installation, the deformed e ...

ed steel construction. It is 950 feet 10 inches in length, and 19'-6" in width, originally had sidewalks on either side and, contains 534 tons of steel. The trusses are 22 ft high. The cost of this reconstruction was $96,410.65. In 1949, the wood floor was replaced with an open grid steel deck and a single 3 ft 9 in wide

ed sidewalk was installed on the upstream (north) side. The flood of 1955 stands as one of the most destructive in

Delaware Valley The Philadelphia metropolitan area, also known as Greater Philadelphia and informally called the Delaware Valley, the Philadelphia tri-state area, and locally and colloquially Philly–Jersey–Delaware, is a major metropolitan area in the Nor ...

history. Several bridges were washed out in the deluge. While four inches of water flowed over the deck of the Uhlerstown-Frenchtown bridge and it received some damage from floating debris, the damage was not serious and the bridge did not need to be closed while repairs were made. The weight limit for vehicles traveling across the bridge was reduced from 15 tons down to 5 in May 2000. A 2001 rehab project included repainting the bridge, replacing the floor and sidewalk, and installation of new lighting and guard rails. Weekday closures occurred while

lead paint Lead paint or lead-based paint is paint containing lead. As pigment, lead(II) chromate (, "chrome yellow"), lead(II,IV) oxide, (, "red lead"), and lead(II) carbonate (, "white lead") are the most common forms.. Lead is added to paint to acceler ...

was removed from the bridge in a manner which would not pollute the river below and the bridge stands today in very good condition. File:Delaware River Bridge, Frenchtown, NJ - looking north.jpg, View from the shore in Frenchtown File:Uhlerstown-Frenchtown Bridge 20091026-jag9889.jpg, View from the river

References

Sources

Uhlerstown-Frenchtown Bridge (Uhlerstown/Frenchtown, 1931)
accessed November 1, 2009
Uhlerstown-Frenchtown Toll Supported Bridge
accessed September 20, 2018

accessed November 1, 2009

accessed November 2, 2009 {{DEFAULTSORT:Uhlerstown-Frenchtown Bridge Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission Bridges over the Delaware River Road bridges in Pennsylvania Bridges completed in 1841 Bridges completed in 1931 Bridges in Bucks County, Pennsylvania Road bridges in New Jersey Former toll bridges in New Jersey Former toll bridges in Pennsylvania Steel bridges in the United States Warren truss bridges in the United States Interstate vehicle bridges in the United States

History

Early bridges

Current bridge

See also

References

Sources