Chesapeake & Delaware Canal Bridge - Physical Description

Physical Description

The C & D Canal Bridge, the first cable-stayed bridge of its type in the Delaware Valley area (all previous Delaware River or C & D Canal bridges are either suspension, cantilever, or simple truss designs), is also the first pre-cast concrete bridge to be built in the United States. Modeled after that of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in St. Petersburg, Florida, the bridge incorporates many features not found on the other canal bridges:

• Fixed high-level crossing, a 100 feet (30 m) clearance like that of the other Canal highway crossings.
• 750 feet (229 m) center span, with the major anchorages out of the water (thus preventing a catastrophic collision similar to the old Sunshine Skyway Bridge and previous C & D Canal bridges)
• six travel lanes, with the option of restriping to eight
• pull-off emergency shoulders on both sides (under the current striping arrangement)
• roadway lighting – they were removed in 2003 at the requests of canal pilots and replaced with low-voltage low-pressure sodium floodlights that illuminate the main support anchors
• 65-mph speed limit
• separate approach spans, only joining at the anchorages of the cables

The bridge also incorporates a 3% climbing grade, a feature lacked on the nearby St. Georges Bridge. The bridge, built between 1991 and 1994, utilized pre-cast concrete segments that were made in, and transported by barge until it reached the job site. Once at the site, the segments were fitted into place like that of a jigsaw puzzle.