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The Benjamin Franklin Bridge (also known as the Ben Franklin Bridge), originally named the Delaware River Bridge, is a suspension bridge across the Delaware River connecting Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Camden, New Jersey. Named for American statesman Benjamin Franklin, the bridge is owned and operated by the Delaware River Port Authority. The chief engineer was Polish-born Ralph Modjeski, its design engineer was Leon Moisseiff, and the supervising architect was Paul Philippe Cret. At its completion on July 1, 1926, its 533-metre span made it the world's longest suspension bridge span, a distinction it would hold until the opening of the Ambassador Bridge in 1929.
The bridge currently carries highways I-676 and US 30, the latter since its opening or very soon thereafter. Before the 1953 New Jersey State Highway renumbering, Route 25, Route 43 and Route 45 ended in the middle of the bridge. The bridge also carries the PATCO Speedline rail line via connecting tunnels on both sides of the bridge.
Pedestrian walkways run along both sides of the bridge, elevated over and separated from the vehicular lanes; of these, only one is open at a time. Walkway hours are 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (7:00 p.m. during daylight saving time). The DRPA temporarily closed the walkways to the public the day after the 7 July 2005 London bombings, citing security concerns. The DRPA also closes the walkway after snowfall.
The seven vehicular lanes are divided by a concrete "zipper" barrier, which can be mechanically moved to configure the lanes for traffic volume or construction. Tolls, which are $3 for passenger cars, are charged only in the westbound, Camden-to-Philadelphia direction. The DRPA had initially proposed a $1-to-$2 toll increase in early 2008,[1] but it has postponed the toll hike until at least mid-2008 due to its decision to use general funds to fund projects for the time being.[2] Before the introduction of the zipper barrier, the bridge was barrier-less—lanes were lit green or red to indicate whether they were open or closed, and they changed daily to accommodate rush-hour traffic.
Along with the Betsy Ross, Walt Whitman, and Tacony-Palmyra Bridges, the Benjamin Franklin is one of four primary bridges between Philadelphia and southern New Jersey. The Commodore Barry Bridge in Delaware County, Pennsylvania and the Burlington-Bristol Bridge in Bucks County, Pennsylvania connect suburban Philadelphia with southern New Jersey.
[edit] Trivia
- A May-July 2006 production of the musical Godspell at the historic Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, directed by Ryan Oczkowski, was set under the Franklin Bridge, with Jesus' followers portrayed as homeless who live in a shanty there.
- The bridge's two stone anchoring houses each contain a "phantom railway station". The stations were built for a planned trolley line that was to run over the bridge. The two sides, it turns out, used different grades of track, and could not meet up in the center. As it happened, the then-"Bridge Line" (the subway line that ran as far as the Broadway stop in Camden, NJ and was later incorporated into the PATCO line in 1969) served the cross-bridge traffic adequately, and the trolley line has never been finished, but the stations were, right down to tile decorations on the walls and floors. WPVI-TV Channel 6 reporter Don Polec once did a news report on these stations.
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