History
Construction began in 1969, and was completed in 1974. However, the bridge did not open to traffic until April 1976 due to numerous problems with the communities where the bridge's ramps to and from Richmond Street were located. The problems (concerns over traffic, especially heavy trucks) were also related to the route's planned extension across Northeast Philadelphia to the Roosevelt Expressway. The cancellation of this extension, the planned PA 90 (Pulaski Expressway) resulted in so-called "Evel Knievel" ghost ramps – unfinished bridges and fly-over ramps, some of which were later constructed to serve Aramingo Avenue in the city's Bridesburg section. Currently, the route serves as a high-level multi-lane (six lanes, separated by a concrete median barrier) bypass of the three-lane Tacony-Palmyra Bridge, which has a drawbridge on the span.
Construction in 1988 connected the bridge to New Jersey Route 90, allowing drivers to use NJ 90 to access Route 73, rather than via U.S. Route 130.
The bridge has a total length of 8,485 feet (2,586 m), and a main span of 729 feet (222 m). Though originally constructed with eight lanes, the bridge was reduced to six lanes with two shoulders in 2000. The bridge is owned and operated by the Delaware River Port Authority.
When approaching the exits from I-95 in Philadelphia for this bridge, drivers see signs referring to NJ Route 90. Beyond the toll plaza, which is on the New Jersey side, NJ 90 continues as an expressway with maximum speed limit of 50 mph (80 km/h), and in a few miles ends with a merge onto southbound NJ 73. The toll plaza (westbound tolls only) is 12 lanes wide, and since 2000 has been a participating E-ZPass facility.
Read more about this topic: Betsy Ross Bridge
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“I am ashamed to see what a shallow village tale our so-called History is. How many times must we say Rome, and Paris, and Constantinople! What does Rome know of rat and lizard? What are Olympiads and Consulates to these neighboring systems of being? Nay, what food or experience or succor have they for the Esquimaux seal-hunter, or the Kanaka in his canoe, for the fisherman, the stevedore, the porter?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Free from public debt, at peace with all the world, and with no complicated interests to consult in our intercourse with foreign powers, the present may be hailed as the epoch in our history the most favorable for the settlement of those principles in our domestic policy which shall be best calculated to give stability to our Republic and secure the blessings of freedom to our citizens.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)
“It would be naive to think that peace and justice can be achieved easily. No set of rules or study of history will automatically resolve the problems.... However, with faith and perseverance,... complex problems in the past have been resolved in our search for justice and peace. They can be resolved in the future, provided, of course, that we can think of five new ways to measure the height of a tall building by using a barometer.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)