The Tacony-Palmyra Bridge has been a major artery spanning the Delaware River for motorists and pedestrians since opening to great fanfare, despite a thunderstorm, on Aug. 14, 1929.
On carefree summer days, youngsters would walk from Berkey’s Pier and through the dunes where Palmyra Harbour is now, and then walk halfway up the bridge to see the ships going up and down the Delaware River.
There would be traffic jams on Friday evenings, as cars packed with Northeast Philadelphia families heading down the shore would use the bridge because of its low toll and proximity to liquor stores on Route 73, where they would stock up for the weekend. In the 1960’s the bridge was known as the “nickel bridge.”
By the 1980s a popular bumper sticker proudly stated, “Palmyra, more than just a bridge.” The toll increased to 10 cents, and then a quarter, but it was still cheaper than the Walt Whitman Bridge and the Ben Franklin Bridge, which just celebrated its 100th birthday on July 11 with a big celebration attended by thousands of people.
The Tacony-Palmyra Bridge will celebrate its 100th birthday in 2029 and has been kept in excellent working condition, especially the bascule drawbridge that opens for passing ships, since the Burlington County Bridge Commission purchased it in 1949.
Its efforts continued on Monday, July 27, and Monday, Aug. 3, as the bridge was closed to traffic from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. to “complete essential maintenance work that helps ensure the continued safe and reliable operation of the bridge,” stated a BCBC press release.
“Conducting the work during overnight hours minimizes impacts on the traveling public while allowing maintenance personnel to safely perform the required repairs. The Burlington County Bridge Commission appreciates the public’s patience and cooperation as this important work is completed.”
On Wednesday, July 29, traffic was flowing normally across the 3,659-foot-long hybrid bridge, which cost approximately $4 million to build and uses a mix of steel spans and the movable center span drawbridge designed by renowned engineer Rudolph Modjski.
At noon, two police cars with flashing lights stopped traffic on either side of the bridge and drove up close to the drawbridge as it opened for a tug boat pushing a barge south on the Delaware River.
Beginning in 1922 the Tacony-Palmyra Ferry Company’s vessels the “Tacony” and the “Palmyra” took farmers across the river. The ferries operated from 6 a.m. to midnight, seven days a week at 15 minute intervals, docking at Berkey’s Pier at the foot of Cinnaminson Ave. in Palmyra.
According to the Historical Society of Tacony (HST), the ferry service advertised “No congestion or traffic jams. At last, Philly and the seashore united.” However, after the bridge opened the ferry service ended.
In June 1926 Riverton businessmen Charles A. Wright and Edward G. Borer, who owned the land on which the bridge would be built, formed the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge Company. Construction began in 1928 and the “vertical clearance under the center span at high tide was 64 feet. More than 31,000 cubic yards of granite and concrete were used in the substructure while the steel in the superstructure amounted to over 15 million pounds,” according to the HST website.
At the grand opening ceremony of Aug. 14, 1929, people filled both sides of the bridge and “a speaker’s stand adorned in patriotic decorations was located on the upstream side of the arch span. A series of amplifiers were hooked to the smooth steel girders of the superstructure above, and a canopy covered the dignitaries’ staging area.”
However, Mother Nature was not as thrilled with the bridge opening and unleashed a severe thunderstorm just before the 3 p.m. ceremony, nearly blowing the canopy off the staging area. Yet, the ceremony went on as scheduled, featuring speeches by Palmyra Mayor George Wimer and other officials.
Over the past 97 years, the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge has survived all kinds of inclement weather and continued its mission as a way for motorists and pedestrians to cross the Delaware River – albeit with bridge openings to delay their journey. Even then, children can get out of the car and enjoy looking at the ships going under the bridge.
The historic bridge will celebrate its 100th birthday on Aug. 14, 2029. Let the planning begin.
