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Jersey Bridge (Cherrytree Township, Pennsylvania)

Coordinates: 41°36′55″N 79°39′27″W / 41.61528°N 79.65750°W / 41.61528; -79.65750
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Jersey Bridge
The bridge in July 2011
Coordinates41°36′55″N 79°39′27″W / 41.61528°N 79.65750°W / 41.61528; -79.65750
CarriesSR 1011
CrossesOil Creek
LocaleVenango County, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Other name(s)Bridge in Cherrytree Township
Maintained byPennDOT
NBI #601011001014800[1]
Characteristics
Total length42.7 m (140 ft)[1]
Width10.1 m (33 ft)[1]
History
Constructed byMorse Bridge Company
Built1882 (1882)
MPSHighway Bridges Owned by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Transportation TR
NRHP reference No.88000809[2]
Added to NRHP22 June 1988
Location
Map

The Jersey Bridge is a one-lane, Pratt through truss bridge that spans Oil Creek in Cherrytree Township, Pennsylvania. It connects the city of Titusville to the Drake Well Museum and Oil Creek State Park. The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. It was replaced in 1998 with a newer bridge that used the superstructure of the old bridge.

History

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A Pennsylvania Department of Transportation photo of the bridge in 1982

The Jersey Bridge was constructed in 1882 by the Morse Bridge Company, the predecessor to American Bridge Company.[3]

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) instituted a 10 short tons (9.1 t) weight limit for the bridge due to its deteriorating condition in 1979.[4] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 22, 1988.[2] The bridge was replaced in 1997 to meet safety requirements from PennDOT, as well as to allow tour buses heading to the nearby Drake Well Museum.

The replacement of the bridge, on the only route to and from museum, forced the museum to close on November 2, 1997.[4] The museum was able to reopen in April 1998 after an agreement with the Oil Creek and Titusville Railroad, which operates a train station at the museum, to transport tourists from Titusville to Drake Well.[4] The refurbished Jersey Bridge was reopened on May 27, 1998.

Design

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After it was rebuilt in 1998, the refurbished Jersey Bridge utilized the original bridge's superstructure, though the actual loadbearing substructure is a common girder bridge.[1] The superstructure remained a pin-connected, Pratt through truss bridge.[3] The bridge is still one-lane, but has a pedestrian walkway on one side of the bridge outside the superstructure.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d Federal Highway Administration (2010). "State: PA, Place Name: Oilcreek (Township of), County: Venango, NBI Structure Number: 601011001014800". National Bridge Inventory. Nationalbridges.com (Alexander Svirsky). Archived from the original on May 10, 2012. Retrieved July 5, 2011. Note: this is a formatted scrape of the 2010 official website, which can be found here for Pennsylvania: "PA10.txt". Federal Highway Administration. 2010. Retrieved July 5, 2011.
  2. ^ a b "NPS Focus". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. Archived from the original on July 25, 2008. Retrieved January 8, 2011.
  3. ^ a b Rapp, G. A.; Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (August 13, 1982). "Bridge in Cherrytree Township" (PDF). Pennsylvania Historic Resource Survey Form. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. p. 3. Retrieved July 5, 2011.
  4. ^ a b c Carroll, Jim (May 27, 1998). "Unique Bridge Opens in Titusville". Erie Morning News. p. 11B.
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