Amtrak - Raritan River Bridge
Photos
NEC Raritan River Bridge
West side of bridge from north bank
Photo taken by Frank Hicks in April 2011
BH Photo #196847
Description
From PRR's summary of bridges and stations, prepared 1945 by Coverdale & Colpitts:New Brunswick, New Jersey
The United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company, owner.
The present four-track bridge over the Raritan River at New Brunswick consists of 21 spans of stone arches, the clear spans varying from 51 feet to 72 feet each. The bridge was constructed in 1903 and has a total length of 1,428 feet.
The first bridge in this location was a double-deck Howe-truss bridge 1,577 feet long constructed in 1838 with a highway on the lower deck, on a masonry substructure. Late in 1877 work was begun on the replacement of this wooden bridge with a double-track iron structure of seven iron fixed deck-spans having three trusses each with stone-arch approaches. The drawspan, 146 feet long, had been renewed in 1872. While the work was in progress, this bridge was entirely destroyed by fire on March 9, 1878, but traffic was resumed over a temporary structure five days later.
In 1896, the superstructure was again renewed with five deck truss-spans, each 147 feet long, and one drawspan over the canal, all for two tracks, and in 1903 it was replaced by the present four-track bridge.
Facts
- Overview
- Arch bridge over Raritan River on Amtrak (Northeast Corridor)
- Location
- New Brunswick, Middlesex County, New Jersey
- Status
- Open to traffic
- History
- Built 1902
- Railroads
- - Amtrak (AMTK)
- Northeast Corridor (NEC)
- Penn Central Railroad (PC)
- Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR)
- Design
- Closed-spandrel arch
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +40.50112, -74.44119 (decimal degrees)
40°30'04" N, 74°26'28" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 18/547349/4483528 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Plainfield
- Inventory number
- BH 48567 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- January 2, 2018: Photo imported by Alexander D. Mitchell IV
- July 30, 2016: New photo from Art Suckewer
- September 3, 2015: New Street View added by Alexander D. Mitchell IV
- July 1, 2013: Photo imported by Dave King
- April 4, 2011: Added by Frank Hicks
Sources
- Frank Hicks
- Dave King - DKinghawkfan [at] hotmail [dot] com
- Alexander D. Mitchell IV
- Art Suckewer - Asuckewer [at] knite [dot] com
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/nj/middlesex/nec-raritan-river/
Originally stone, encased in concrete a few decades later (unsure of exact date but before 1970).
Was built one half at a time while 2-track Iron bridge was still in place and in service.