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University Avenue Bridge

Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania

Photos 

Wiki

BH Photo #190856

Map 

Street View 

Description 

Owner: Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, as of 1961, formerly City of Philadelphia Maintained by PennDOT Designers: Paul Phillippe Cret, architect, and Stephen H. Noyes, engineer Design: Beaux-Arts Double leaf bascule bridge Materials: steel, limestone, concrete, bronze Total length 536 feet Width 100 feet Number of spans 4 Piers in water 4 Clearance below 30 feet Constructed by Dravo Contracting Company Beginning date of construction 1925 Completion date 1930 Opened 1930

Facts 

Overview
Bridge over Schuylkill River on University Avenue
Location
Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1929; rehabilitated 1985
Builders
- Dravo Contracting Co. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Paul Philippe Cret
Design
steel double leaf bascule bridge, concrete deck
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 120.1 ft.
Total length: 540.1 ft.
Deck width: 54.5 ft.
Recognition
Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on May 26, 1994
Approximate latitude, longitude
+39.94194, -75.19722   (decimal degrees)
39°56'31" N, 75°11'50" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
18/483150/4421332 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Philadelphia
Average daily traffic (as of 2017)
30,557
Inventory numbers
PA 67 3003 0050 0000 (Pennsylvania Bridge Management System number)
PANBI 38906 (Pennsylvania BRKEY bridge number on the 2011 NBI)
NRHP 94000515 (National Register of Historic Places reference number)
BH 45844 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection report (as of May 2017)
Overall condition: Fair
Superstructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 63.9 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com

Categories 

Bascule (1,039)
Built 1929 (953)
Built during 1920s (9,460)
Dravo Contracting Co. (11)
Functionally obsolete (7,198)
Have street view (25,342)
Movable (2,841)
NR-listed (2,874)
Open (38,117)
 Owned by state (15,070)
Paul Philippe Cret (4)
Pennsylvania (4,875)
Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania (184)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (165)
Schuylkill River (77)
Span length 100-125 feet (4,219)
Total length 500-1000 feet (2,653)

Update Log 

  • January 28, 2016: New Street View added by Douglas Butler
  • December 16, 2015: New Street View added by Douglas Butler
  • March 7, 2014: Updated by Dave King: Added NRHP #, street view and imported photos
  • December 26, 2010: New photos from Jodi Christman
  • August 9, 2010: Updated by D. Thomsen: Added categories, itemized description

Sources 

  • D. Thomsen - dcthomsen [at] comcast [dot] net
  • Jodi Christman - masterofchaos [at] outlook [dot] com
  • Wikipedia
  • Douglas Butler
  • Dave King - DKinghawkfan [at] hotmail [dot] com
  • HAER PA-503 - University Avenue Bridge, Spanning Schuylkill River at University Avenue (State Route 3003), Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA
  • Historic Structure Report - Enormous Report Discussing Bridge
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Comments 

University Avenue Bridge
Posted October 28, 2017, by Luke

"University Avenue Bridge opens for barges guided by tugboats at an average rate of once a day."

http://uchs.net/HistoricDistricts/uavebridge.html

University Avenue Bridge
Posted October 28, 2017, by Nathan Delaplaine (ndelaplaine [at] gmail [dot] com)

I see the traffic lights are still existing on his antique bascule bridge, but I still have one question. Are you sure this drawbridge still operates?

University Avenue Bridge
Posted July 4, 2017, by Nathan Delaplaine (ndelaplaine [at] gmail [dot] com)

This is a very old drawbridge, but I think it maybe time to rebuild this bridge. But does this old drawbridge still operate?