Rating:
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AMTK - Raritan River Bridge

Middlesex County, New Jersey

Photos 

NEC Raritan River Bridge

West side of bridge from north bank

Photo taken by Frank Hicks in April 2011

Enlarge

BH Photo #196847

Map 

Street Views 

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)

Categories 

Amtrak (574)
Arch (12,653)
Built 1902 (583)
Built during 1900s (7,636)
Closed-spandrel arch (4,258)
Deck arch (11,890)
Have street view (28,902)
Middlesex County, New Jersey (94)
 New Brunswick, New Jersey (13)
New Jersey (1,693)
Northeast Corridor (156)
Open (40,969)
Owned by railroad (13,500)
Penn Central Railroad (1,538)
Pennsylvania Railroad (1,026)
Railroad (16,458)

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
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Comments 

Amtrak Raritan River Bridge
Posted March 12, 2014, by Erik Romatowski (eromatowski [at] verizon [dot] net)

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.