Bridge Lessons: The Tacony-Palmyra

Living in the Past
By Dr. Harry C. Silcox
and Jack McCarthy
For the Times

The Tacony-Palmyra Ferry was so successful that by 1925 the board of directors of the ferry company could predict that a bridge over the same location could easily carry the projected break-even point of a million-and-a-half cars each year.
They pushed the New Jersey Legislature to pass a law in 1925 that provided for the construction of additional bridges over the Delaware River. This followed construction of the Delaware River Bridge (known today as the Ben Franklin Bridge), which was started in 1924 and completed two years later.
It was then that Charles L. Wright, president of the Tacony-Palmyra Ferry, organized the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge Co. Modjeski, Masters and Chase — the firm that designed and built the Delaware River Bridge — was chosen to design the new Tacony-Palmyra Bridge. A congressional act approved its construction on Jan. 25, 1927, with final approval secured by the War Department on the final day of the year.
State and municipal approvals soon followed, and on Feb. 14, 1928, construction began on the bridge, which had been budgeted at $4.7 million.
The project was not without controversy. It came to light that the bridge company was considering a second plan that included a $20 million proposal to build the bridge high enough to clear all marine traffic on the river.
At the time, the public did not consider bridge openings to be much of a problem for those who would be using it. Also, the higher span would mean years of delay, which was unacceptable to all. The storm brought agreement that the idea of a drawbridge at a cost of $4.7 million was the best construction plan.
As a result, the company fired several members of the staff and dismissed the secretary-treasurer of the Burlington County Bridge Commission. A second political storm arose when it was discovered that businessman W.G. Borer owned the land on both sides of the river where the bridge would touch shore. He had purchased it in 1926, based on inside information, and sold it to the bridge company for a large profit on Feb. 22, 1927.
Today, such a practice could lead to a jail term, but because the bridge was being financed by private capital, such activity was considered a smart business practice and was unchallengeable by law. The savings to government for transportation by private business far outweighed concerns about questionable business practices.
The piers of the bridge were set on March 27, 1928, and its main parts were completed over the next year and a half. There were three main structures: the central arch in the center of the river, the 260-foot bascule span (a drawbridge-like section operated by counterweights to open the middle of the span for ships to pass) and three continuous spans.
These were completed in the summer of 1929, and the bridge was set for its grand opening on Aug. 14.
Flags draped the bridge on that big day, accompanied by patriotic music. Speeches filled the air from 9 in the morning until the official opening at 3 that afternoon.
Philadelphia Mayor Harry Mackey told the crowd, "This new bridge is one that fits into the coordinated plan of development of the great territory in this section on both sides of the river."
Said Ralph Modjeski, chief engineer for the bridge: "This is a bridge, with proper maintenance, that we hope will last one-hundred years."
The celebration of the bridge opening was one of the biggest events in Tacony’s history. Cars lined up at the bridge early in the day. Crossing it was free that day, and riders hoped they’d be chosen for the distinction of being the first to cross the span to New Jersey.
That honor went to Edward M. Heenan, who lived on Robbins Avenue, the first driver to cross from the Philadelphia side. E.C. Cook, a resident of Kirkwood, N.J., was the first to head across the bridge from New Jersey.
Two Philadelphia residents — Herbert Sparks and John A. Kuhne — had the unflattering honor of being in the first accident on the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge. It occurred just 90 minutes after the official opening, when Sparks’ vehicle was hit in the rear by Kuhne’s.
Over four decades, the toll to cross the bridge actually got cheaper. The cost was 35 cents when the bridge debuted, but it dropped to 25 cents in 1948 and, six years later, plunged to 5 cents when financing bonds were paid off. Over the last two decades, a series of increases have brought the toll to its current $2 level for two-way crossing.
The opening of the bridge in ’29 did not appear to play a significant role in the growth of Northeast Philadelphia. More important to the region was the Market-Frankford Elevated Line. Most new building at the time occurred in the neighborhoods of Holmesburg and Mayfair. These areas were more dependent on the high-speed transportation provided by the El to get to work each day.
As historian Sam Bass Warner has demonstrated, transportation developments in Philadelphia focused on streetcars, roads and trains from the outskirts of the city all the way to Center City.
What the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge did reveal was a basic weakness in the city’s road network. There were few direct roads in Northeast Philadelphia that crossed the city west to east. Within months of the August 1929 bridge opening, more than $18 million was budgeted for road projects, primarily in the area that fed to the bridge. The work included paving dirt roads and construction of better access to the bridge, mostly on the Philadelphia side.
By 1931, more than 2 million cars a year were using the bridge. While that traffic made the bridge profitable, it also overwhelmed the streets going to Tacony from Chestnut Hill, Germantown, Olney, Logan and Roxborough.
Even though ample land and vacant ground existed that could have been purchased cheaply for a crosstown express highway, the city did nothing. Local traffic got so bad in Tacony and Mayfair that protests were common and maps were published every summer to show the best routes to the bridge.
City leaders, meanwhile, complained about the millions of dollars necessary to upgrade access streets to the bridge, money that was not in the city budget.
The Great Depression quieted these complaints — people had less money and there were fewer cars on the road, but it only delayed the problem of crosstown traffic for a later time.
A 1971 plan to build the Pulaski Expressway west to east in Northeast Philadelphia became entangled in neighborhood disputes, and construction was never started.
Unfortunately, the post-World War II building explosion in Northeast Philadelphia overwhelmed the neighborhoods and allowed little space for crosstown highways. To this day, the failure to address it remains the city’s greatest neglect to the northeast section of Philadelphia.
Despite these problems, the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge has proved to be a valuable asset to Northeast Philadelphia. It has given a higher profile to Tacony and provided easy access to New Jersey for residents and businesses of the Northeast.
Most of all, Modjeski’s 1929 prediction of 100 years of use for the bridge undoubtedly will become reality. ••
To reach Harry C. Silcox, send e-mail to silcoxh@axs2000.net