Falls Bridge

The Falls Bridge is a steel Pratt truss bridge that spans the Schuylkill River in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It connects Kelly (formerly East River) Drive at Calumet Street with Martin Luther King, Jr. (formerly West River) Drive at Neill Drive. It replaced a wooden covered bridge at the same site.

Falls Bridge
Coordinates40.00833°N 75.19833°W / 40.00833; -75.19833
Carries2 lanes of Calumet Street
CrossesSchuylkill River
LocaleFairmount Park, Philadelphia
Official nameFalls Bridge
Characteristics
DesignSteel Pratt truss
Total length556 feet (169 m)
Width25.9 feet (7.9 m)
Longest span191.9 feet (58.5 m)
Clearance above17.2 feet (5.2 m)
History
OpenedJune 1895
Statistics
Daily traffic13,000 (1981)
Tollnone
Location

The 556-foot-long (169 m) bridge, with stonemasonry abutments and two stonemasonry piers, with three Pratt-type pin-connected trusses, was built in 1894–1895 at a cost of $262,000 by Filbert Porter & Co. under the direction of Chief Engineer George Smedley Webster (1855–1931) of the Philadelphia Department of Public Works and James H. Windrim, director of the Department of Public Works. The bridge was designed as a double-decker bridge, but the upper deck was never built for lack of funds. The bridge carries two lanes of vehicular traffic on a 26-foot-wide (7.9 m) roadway, with 7-foot (2.1 m) sidewalks on either side, for a total width of 40 feet (12 m).

In 2007, blue LED lights were added to highlight the bridge at night.

  • "View of Proposed Falls Bridge" (1894)
  • Note the Reading Railroad Bridge and the Falls (Covered) Bridge in this 1872 map.
  • "View from Laurel Hill Cemetery." Reading Railroad Bridge, with Falls (Covered) Bridge in the distance (circa 1880s).
  • "Philadelphia. (Bridge over the Schuylkill River)", undated. This photograph may show the Falls (Covered) Bridge.

See also

References
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