Summit Bridge (1927)

Photos

Chesapeake & Dalaware Canal Bridge

Cleveland State University Library Photograph Collection

Phoenix Bridge Co

Photo taken by Douglas Butler

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BH Photo #375781

Map

Maps and Databases

Description

Although many lift bridges were similar in design in 1926 along the canal including the Chesapeake city lift bridge, the St. Georges lift bridge, the second of 3 railroad bridges, and the Reedy Point bridge, this bridge stood out and can be identified in photos as being the only of the bridges with three arches. This may have been due to the bridge spanning the "deep cut" section of the canal, which when the canal was made sea level after the locks were removed, was the deepest and subsequently widest crossing.

Facts

Overview: Lost Pratt through truss bridge over Chesapeake & Delaware Canal on Summit Bridge Road
Location: Chesapeake City, New Castle County, Delaware
Status: Built in 1927; replaced by a new bridge in 1959
History: 4 of 5 summit bridges to exist, one of several lift bridges added after the removal of the canal locks in 1926
Builders: - J.A.L. Waddell of Port Hope, Canada
- Phoenix Bridge Co. of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania
Design: Pratt through truss vertical lift
Approximate latitude, longitude: +39.54172, -75.72596 (decimal degrees)
39°32'30" N, 75°43'33" W (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates: 18/437619/4377146 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:: Saint Georges
Inventory number: BH 62124 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Update Log

August 5, 2022: Updated by Connor Thomas Cadogan: some history for the bridge is given and pictures added
November 2, 2019: Updated by Douglas Butler: updated
January 13, 2017: New photo from Douglas Butler
July 30, 2014: Added by Douglas Butler

Sources

Douglas Butler