Walnut Street Bridge (Harrisburg)
History
The bridge was built to break the toll monopoly enjoyed by the neighboring Camelback Bridge (now the Market Street Bridge). The Walnut Street Bridge was closed to motor vehicles and converted to a pedestrian and bikeway link to City Island after the 1972 Hurricane Agnes flood. The eastern span of the bridge is outlined in lights which, along with the City Island facilities, create a dynamic visual effect at night. The 2,801-foot (854 m) span is one of the longest pedestrian bridges in the world and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. It is also recognized as a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.
1996 collapse
On 20 January 1996, as a result of rising flood waters from the North American blizzard of 1996, the Walnut Street bridge lost two of its seven western spans when high floodwaters and a large ice floe lifted the spans off their foundations and swept them down the river. A third span was damaged and later collapsed into the river. This dramatic scene was recorded by an amateur videographer and shown on national news clips. Shortly after the loss of the three western spans, the People's Bridge Coalition was formed to support the restoration of the bridge. Public surveys in the early 2000s showed overwhelming support for the restoration of the western spans.
Shortly after the 1996 collapse, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation contracted Modjeski and Masters, Inc., to perform an inspection and analysis to prevent the possibility of future collapse of the remaining structure. A $5 million rehabilitation project was later conducted on the eastern span of the bridge. The rehabilitation project was performed by IA Construction Corporation of Concordville, Pennsylvania. When it was announced that the western span wouldn't be reconstructed, citizens formed The People's Bridge Coalition, which has since reorganized into a non-profit, the Walnut Street Bridge Society.
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The bridge as seen from City Island in 1908, over the Susquehanna River to Harrisburg
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Harrisburg's Walnut St Bridge in 1958 when it was used for automobile traffic.
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Western span of the Walnut Street Bridge in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania after it collapsed during the 1996 flood.
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Pedestrians on the Walnut Street Bridge.
See also
- List of bridges documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in Pennsylvania
- List of crossings of the Susquehanna River
References
- ^ "PHMC Historical Markers Search" (Searchable database). Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
- ^ LaFond Jr., E.F. (1971). "Walnut Street Bridge" (PDF). National Register of Historic Places nomination. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
- ^ "Cross-River Connections Study" (PDF). Tri-County Regional Planning Commission. 2014. Retrieved November 18, 2021.
- ^ Miller, Dan; Patriot-News, The (September 23, 2011). "A new group hopes to restore Old Shakey bridge in Harrisburg". pennlive. Retrieved November 18, 2021.
Further reading
- Cupper, Dan (2002). The People's Bridge: A History of the Walnut Street Bridge - Harrisburg to Wormleysburg. American Society of Civil Engineers. ISBN 9789878776026.
- Jackson, Donald C. (1984). Great American Bridges and Dams. John Wiley & Sons, New York (USA). ISBN 0-471-14385-5.
- "Walnut Street Bridge". ASCE History and Heritage of Civil Engineering. Retrieved January 26, 2022.
External links
- Walnut Street Bridge at Structurae
- PennLive.com: "Coalition continues fund-raising to restore Walnut Street Bridge" — 2008 article.
- Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. PA-412, "Walnut Street Bridge"