Commodore Barry Bridge

The Commodore Barry Bridge is one of the four toll bridges owned by the Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA). The other bridges are the Betsy Ross Bridge, the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, and the Walt Whitman Bridge. The bridge has a total of 5 lanes, with a zipper barrier (added in 2002) to change the direction of the lanes based on traffic volume or construction.

Construction began on this bridge on April 14, 1969, and it opened to traffic on February 1, 1974. The bridge replaced the Chester–Bridgeport Ferry, which opened on July 1, 1930, and was the sole means of crossing the Delaware River from Delaware County, Pennsylvania to Gloucester County, New Jersey. The bridge was originally constructed to be part of a proposed highway to connect Interstate 95 and the Atlantic City Expressway. The highway was abandoned because of opposition by residents of Glassboro. This led to a much smaller traffic volume than was anticipated and raised doubts about the fiscal viability of the bridge.

Soon after the bridge opened, engineers detected vibrations in the main cantilever span. These vibrations were significant enough to twist the upright girders and form cracks in some of them. Although the engineers argued that the vibrations did not threaten the structural integrity of the bridge, DRPA still undertook corrective measures. These measures included splicing and welding any deficiencies in the vertical girders and installing a network of steel support cables so that the bridge beams could withstand higher wind velocities.

On February 2, 1978, a massive fire erupted under the bridge at the Eastern Rubber Reclaiming Plant (also known as Wade Dump). Three million gallons of hazardous chemicals were stored or illegally dumped at this site, including cyanide, PCBs, benzene, and toluene. The bridge stood 100 feet above the western edge of the dump, and it was closed as a precaution. Fortunately, it did not suffer any structural damage, and was quickly reopened. The smoke and fumes from the fire is blamed by medical experts for the premature deaths of dozens of firefighters, police officers, and medical personnel. The site was declared a superfund in 1981, and remediation occurred throughout the 1980’s. It was declared safe in 1989, and was converted into a parking lot in 2004.

In the early 2000’s the bridge underwent its first bridge deck rehabilitation project. This included re-decking the bridge, and improvements to the approaches. In 2014 DRPA announced a project to remove the lead paint, repaint the span, resurface the bridge deck and repair the masonry work. The bids went out in 2016, and were contested. The project was rebid in 2018, and the project was completed in 2022.

This bridge has a total length of 13,912 feet, and a main span length of 1,644 feet. This makes it the fourth longest cantilever bridge in the world, and the longest in the United States. Since cable-stay bridges have become the standard for bridges of this length, it is likely that the Commodore Barry Bridge will hold onto this title.

A cantilevered truss bridge is self-supporting on the supports and does not require rigid connections to the supports. It is constructed by extending the truss equally on both sides of the support. Each section of cantilever acts independently, and rigid connections are not needed between the sections at midspan. In contrast, a traditional truss spans between two supports and is rigidly connected to those supports. The truss is also rigidly connected throughout the structure.