Calhoun Street Bridge Construction Begins

MORRISVILLE BOROUGH, PA — Drivers going over the Calhoun Street Bridge this week will experience some single lanes as construction lasts through Friday.

The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission said drivers will experience daytime travel restrictions as a Commission contractor installs replacement iron architectural brackets at various locations along the bridge’s trusses.

The bridge was the DRJTBC’s third most heavily travel non-tolled crossing in 2024, when it carried an average 16,900 vehicles per day.

The bridge will be reduced to a single travel lane controlled by flaggers from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Brackets were removed earlier this year after collision damage from a tractor-trailer that illegally crossed the weight-restricted 140-year-old wrought-iron bridge from Pennsylvania to New Jersey on Dec. 14, 2023.

The brackets are ornamental and are not integral to the bridge’s structural integrity, the commission said. The 2023 overweight/oversized truck incident forced an emergency closure of the bridge.

Commission engineers inspected the bridge and reopened it a little more than an hour later after it was determined to be structurally safe and sound. New Jersey State Police issued multiple citations to the truck driver.

Brief traffic stoppages and delays are possible when travel restrictions are in effect this week.

Drivers are urged to reduce speeds and exercise caution. The travel restrictions are subject to change due to weather, emergencies, and other factors.

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 Nov. 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.