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Continente: América

País: Estados Unidos

Localización: Río Delaware entre Filadelfia y la ciudad de Gloucester, en el Condado de Camden, Nueva Jersey

Año: 1957

Estado: Terminado

Descripción:A NEW DELAWARE RIVER BRIDGE: By the early 1950's, the Philadelphia City Planning Commission finalized the route of the bridge and its expressway approaches. Connecting the proposed Schuylkill Expressway with the North-South Freeway, a new route being developed by the New Jersey State Highway Department, the Philadelphia-Gloucester Bridge (as it was then called) was to also alleviate congestion on the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, which was carrying more than 75,000 vehicles per day, four miles to the north.

The new Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA), a new bi-state agency comprised of Pennsylvania and New Jersey officials, was charged with the construction and maintenance of the proposed crossing. From the beginning, the DRPA proposed a seven-lane bridge for the South Philadelphia-Gloucester crossing. The bridge plan was opposed by the mayors of Gloucester City and Camden, who contended that their four-lane tunnel alternative would require fewer right-of-way acquisitions, and would not blight the surrounding area like the bridge alternative would.

Meanwhile, the DRPA defended its plan, stating that the bridge alternative would handle more traffic, cost $24 million less and take one less year for construction than would the tunnel alternative. In August 1952, the DRPA received permission from the Army Corps of Engineers to construct the bridge.

The new crossing was to be called the Walt Whitman Bridge, after the nineteenth-century poet and author of Leaves of Grass (which was hailed as the "Declaration of Independence of American letters") who spent the last 19 years of his life in nearby Camden. The naming of the bridge itself was a subject of controversy. While the span was still under construction, the Catholic Diocese of Camden and local officials in South Jersey led a letter-writing campaign against the naming of the bridge after Whitman because of his homosexuality.

http://www.phillyroads.com/crossings/walt-whitman/

The Walt Whitman Bridge is a green-colored single-level suspension bridge spanning the Delaware River from Philadelphia to Gloucester City, in Camden County, New Jersey, United States. Named after the poet Walt Whitman, who resided in nearby Camden toward the end of his life, the Walt Whitman Bridge is one of the larger bridges on the east coast of the United States. The bridge is owned and operated by the Delaware River Port Authority. Construction on the bridge began in 1953,[1] and it opened to traffic on May 16, 1957.[1] The bridge has a total length of 11,981 feet (3,652 m),[1] and a main span of 610 metres (2,000 ft).[2] The bridge has seven lanes,[1] three in each direction and a center lane that is shifted variably (via a zipper barrier) to accommodate heavy traffic.[4]

The bridge is a part of Interstate 76 (at milepost 351.98) (which, between the river and the Pennsylvania Turnpike interchange in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, is known as the "Schuylkill Expressway"). Along with the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, Betsy Ross Bridge, Delaware Memorial Bridge, and Commodore Barry Bridge, the Walt Whitman Bridge is one of five expressway-standard bridges connecting the Philadelphia area with southern New Jersey.

The bridge was designed by noted civil engineer Othmar Ammann.[2][4]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Whitman_Bridge

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