Birthday party is for
the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge

A celebration to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge will be held Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., rain or shine.
The event, sponsored by the Burlington County Bridge Commission, is open to the public. It will be held at the Palmyra Cove Nature Center, located underneath the bridge on the New Jersey side of the span.
Attendees can expect to enjoy plenty of food and refreshments and fun activities for the entire family, including live musical entertainment by the band US 1, an antique car display, a petting zoo, face painting, a magician, clown, balloon artist, caricaturist, and live animal demonstrations by the Turtle Lady, the Bee Keeper and a birds of prey and reptile presentation by Woodford Cedar Run Refuge.
Other exhibits at the event will include those from the Burlington County Cultural and Heritage Department, Burlington County College, the Palmyra Historical Society, Tacony Historical Society, Family YMCA of Burlington County and other local community groups.
Parking is limited, so the public is encouraged to attend the celebration by riding the River Line to the Palmyra station, then hop on the shuttle, which runs every 15 minutes, to Palmyra Cove.
Built in 1928 and ‘29 at a cost of $4 million, the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge today is a vital transportation corridor connecting Northeast Philadelphia with New Jersey.
It replaced the Tacony-Palmyra Ferry, a service that carried cars across the Delaware River from Palmyra, N.J., to the Tacony neighborhood in Philadelphia.
The ferry carried approximately 508,000 cars annually across the river, but more than 1.2 million vehicles crossed the bridge in its first year.
The total length of the bridge is 5,162 feet.
The toll was 35 cents during its first year in operation.
Later the Burlington County Bridge Commission acquired the bridge in 1948 and reduced the toll to 25 cents.
The toll was further reduced to 5 cents in 1955 and became known as "the nickel bridge."
That fee lasted 20 years.
Today the toll is $2, with tolls collected only in the Tacony-bound direction.
During the past two years, renovations were performed on the span to the tune of $6 million. The construction project caused several short closings of the bridge.
The work was considered preventive maintenance to keep the stretch — particularly the mechanism used to raise the bridge for boats passing beneath — in good working order. ••
For more information about the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge birthday celebration, call 1-856-829-1900, Ext. 224.