The Mid-

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

Bridge, sometimes known as the

Port Jervis Port Jervis, named after John Bloomfield Jervis, a Roman civil engineer who oversaw the construction of the Delaware and Hudson Canal, is a city located at the confluence of the Neversink and Delaware rivers in western Orange County, New York, ...

– Matamoras Bridge or the Fourth Barrett Bridge, is a

continuous truss bridge A continuous truss bridge is a truss bridge that extends without hinges or joints across three or more supports. A continuous truss bridge may use less material than a series of simple trusses because a continuous truss distributes live loads ...

which carries U.S. Routes 6 and

209 Year 209 ( CCIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Commodus and Lollianus (or, less frequently, year 962 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 209 for this y ...

across that river between those two communities and thus the

states State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

and

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. Although it did have four lanes at one point in its life, it only has two lanes as of today.

History

The current bridge, built by R.C. Ritz Construction Company in 1939 at a cost of $380,000, is the most recent in a long history of crossings between the two communities.Frank, Dale T.; ''Bridges over the Delaware River: A History Of Crossings'', Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, NJ, , 2003, 139. It began in the mid-19th century, when the local Milford and Matamoras Railroad settled a dispute with the larger, growing

Erie Railroad The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Northeastern United States, originally connecting Pavonia Terminal in Jersey City, New Jersey, with Lake Erie at Dunkirk, New York. The railroad expanded west to Chicago following its 1865 ...

with the latter's assent to a law requiring that it construct a bridge across the Delaware at Matamoras that could carry both road and rail traffic. It was supposed to have been completed by 1852, but due to the railroad's unsuccessful efforts to have the law requiring the bridge declared unconstitutional it only began building it that year. It was finished in 1854.Ehrenreich, Thomas; 2001;
The story of a little railroad and a big bridge
''Railroad Extra''; retrieved from catskillarchive.com June 9, 2007. In 1870 that bridge was destroyed in a storm. Directors of the Milford and Matamoras confronted

Jay Gould Jason Gould (; May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892) was an American railroad magnate and financial speculator who founded the Gould family, Gould business dynasty. He is generally identified as one of the Robber baron (industrialist), robber bar ...

about this in New York when the Erie showed no apparent interest in immediately rebuilding it. He told them the railroad had sold its interest in the bridge to another company, which turned out to be a

dummy corporation A dummy corporation, dummy company, or false company is an entity created to serve as a Front organization, front or cover for one or more companies. It can have the appearance of being real (logo, website, and sometimes employing actual staff), bu ...

. A new railroad bridge was built upstream. Port Jervis businessmen led by Charles St. John frustrated by the delays formed the Barrett Bridge Company to build a

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...

designed by John A. Roebling. The bridge which had two spans of opened in 1872. In March 1875 an ice dam on the Delaware upstream broke and in the ensuing flood, it took out the newly built railroad bridge above the Barrett Bridge. The rail bridge then took out sections of the Barrett Bridge which floated downstream but were relatively undamaged. They were carted back and reassembled within a few weeks. A severe flood hit the Delaware River valley in October 1903. Rising waters tore the bridge away from the Matamoras side at 8:30am due to pier damage. The bridge came loose from the middle pier and overturned in the water. Of four people on the bridge, three were killed when the bridge overturned: a prescription clerk, a Catholic priest, and a butcher shop employee. Theodore Durant, a local resident, managed to acquire a board from the collapsing bridge and rode it until he got to a nearby tree, climbing it. A new Barrett Bridge was built shortly thereafter, using a design similar to the current bridge. In 1922 it was taken over by the new Joint Interstate Bridge Commission set up by the two states to manage their Delaware River bridges; tolls were eliminated. The Barrett Bridge lasted until October 18, 1939, when a new bridge crossing the span was completed. Two lanes of the new bridge opened on October 9. Demolition of the old bridge began that same day and lasted through November 26. It would be the only crossing in the area until Interstate 84 was completed in the 1960s with a bridge less than a mile downstream. The Mid-Delaware has proven hardier than its predecessors, standing firm through the post-hurricane flooding in 1955. However, it was closed during the 2006 flooding due to the river waters overrunning its approach roads on either side.June 29, 2006
Raging floodwaters leave towns ravaged
;

WABC-TV WABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, WABC-TV maintains studios in the Hudson Square neighborhood ...

; retrieved June 9, 2007. In June 2007, the Commission approved $550,000 worth of work to be completed in 2008. The

abutment An abutment is the substructure at the ends of a bridge span or dam supporting its superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end that provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining walls ...

backwalls on both sides, and the pier expansion dam, will be repaired.June 8, 2007
Bi-state commission sets work plan for Upper Delaware Bridges
pocononews.net; retrieved June 9, 2007.

References

External links

Mid-Delaware Bridge – Historicbridges.org
{{Authority control Bridges over the Delaware River Bridges in Orange County, New York Bridges in Pike County, Pennsylvania Bridges completed in 1939 Continuous truss bridges in the United States Steel bridges in the United States Road bridges in New York (state) Road bridges in Pennsylvania Bridges of the United States Numbered Highway System U.S. Route 6 Former toll bridges in New York (state) Former toll bridges in Pennsylvania Port Jervis, New York U.S. Route 9 New York–Pennsylvania Joint Interstate Bridge Commission

History

See also

References

External links