Portal:New Jersey/Selected article/48

The Riverton–Belvidere Bridge is a bridge crossing the Delaware River. It connects Belvidere, New Jersey with Riverton, Pennsylvania. There is no toll for crossing on either side, after tolls were abolished by the Joint Commission for the Elimination of Toll Bridges in 1929. The bridge is 653 feet (199 m) long, holding a load of 8 short tons (16,000 lb) of traffic from Warren County Route 620 (Water Street) in Belvidere to former Pennsylvania Route 709 on the Riverton side. The bridge was first constructed in 1836, replacing the local ferry across the river. The board of freeholders in Warren County supported the replacement of the ferry with a bridge for safety of passengers. In 1832, the state created the Belvidere Delaware Bridge Company, which was funded with the job of building a bridge from Riverton to Belvidere. The new covered bridge was built by Solon Chapin, a contractor from Easton, Pennsylvania. The bridge survived two large storms in 1836 and 1841, although sustained major damage both times. In 1903, the floods that destroyed bridges along the Delaware River Valley, including taking out the entire covered structure at Riverton and Belvidere. They rebuilt the structure in 1904, using steel instead of wood, and the new span has remained since, with rehabilitations at certain points.