TRENTON, N.J. – Alternating single-lane travel restrictions are scheduled for off-peak daytime hours next week at the Calhoun Street Toll-Supported Bridge between Trenton, N.J. and Morrisville, PA.
The bridge will be reduced to a single travel lane controlled by flaggers 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, Apr. 7, to Friday, Apr. 11. Brief traffic stoppages and delays are possible when travel restrictions are in effect. Motorists are urged to reduce speeds and exercise caution. The travel restrictions are subject to change due to weather, emergencies, and other factors.
The scheduled flagger-controlled alternating travel patterns will allow a Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission (DRJTBC) contractor to remove several Victorian-era architectural brackets that were damaged by a tractor trailer that illegally crossed the weight-restricted 140-year-old wrought-iron bridge from Pennsylvania to New Jersey on December 14, 2023.
The removed brackets will be replaced at a later date after a mold is made of a surviving intact bracket and new iron replicas are cast. The brackets are ornamental and are not integral to the bridge’s structural integrity.
The December 24, 2023 overweight/oversized truck incident forced an emergency closure of the bridge. Commission engineers inspected the bridge, and reopened it a little more than hour later after it was determined to be structurally safe and sound. New Jersey State Police issued multiple citations to the truck driver. The Commission does not have information on the adjudication of those summonses.
The Calhoun Street Bridge is the Commission’s oldest superstructure, its only seven-span truss bridge, and its only wrought-iron bridge. It is the oldest vehicular bridge between Pennsylvania and New Jersey and features Phoenix Columns and other Victorian-age elements. The bridge opened to traffic October 20, 1884. It was constructed for the former Trenton City Delaware Bridge Company, which had a succession of owners that operated it as a privately tolled crossing for more than 40 years before the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey jointly purchased it on November 14, 1928 and freed it of tolls in a transaction facilitated by the long-defunct Joint Commission for Elimination of (Private) Toll Bridges – Pennsylvania-New Jersey.
The DRJTBC began maintaining the bridge for the two states in late 1934. The states conveyed ownership outright to the DRJTBC in July 1987.
