18 August 08: For your consideration



Of the many bridges crossing the Delaware River in our storied region, the one with highest seniority is one that everyone knows but that few take. The "Trenton Makes Bridge", also known as the Lower Trenton Bridge and Warren Street Bridge, has the official name of Lower Trenton Toll Supported Bridge, a clever name considering it's the last free crossing of the Delaware heading downstream.

Though it's been renovated a number of times since then, including the last full rebuild in 1928, the original structure of the Trenton Makes Bridge opened in 1806, just thirty years after General George Washington crossed the river a few miles upstream on Christmas Day 1776 to take the Hessians in Trenton and reinvigorate the Revolution cause.

It eventually became the first bridge used for interstate train travel, and prior to the 1950s construction of the Trenton-Morrisville Bridge, it carried US Route 1.

The "TRENTON MAKES, THE WORLD TAKES" sign was first installed as neon in 1935. In 2005, the neon was replaced with more efficient and dynamic LEDs. It's one of three bridges carrying automobiles between Trenton and Morrisville PA (the Amtrak/Septa/NJT bridge is two bridges downstream), and pedestrians are permitted to cross the north side.



For more info on the Trenton Makes Bridge, visit the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission's web site HERE.

We'll be along with more bridges later in the Summer of the Delaware which, by the way, follows summer by the calendar, not by Memorial-to-Labor Day. The original version of the above photo is here as yr Monday morning Philly Skyline Trenton Skyline.



UPDATE: Oh man, did I totally space on this one. A huge, Yo MTV Raps thank you to my man Jeff in Fairmount for this reminder: you know what Trenton makes and a 14 year old B Love takes? Classic hip-hop, man. Ladies and gentlemen, lovers of the Delaware River, Philadelphians, Trentonians and especially Youtube user kimbaby4, Trenton's own Poor Righteous Teachers, in the cipher right about where I took the above photo last night.



–B Love

SUMMER OF THE DELAWARE ARCHIVES:

• 11 August 08: Pi reconsidered
• 4 August 08: A photographic interlude
• 29 July 08: Reconsidering Pi
• 25 July 08: Happy trail
• 18 July 08: Seeking the source
• 14 July 08: All this is mine
• 27 June 08: Welcome to the Summer of the Delaware

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