Rockville Bridge

Infobox_Bridge
bridge_name= Rockville Bridge


caption= Rockville Bridge around 1910.
official_name=
also_known_as=
carries= 3 rail lines for Norfolk Southern and Amtrak Keystone Corridor
crosses= Susquehanna River
locale= Just south of Marysville, Pennsylvania
maint= Norfolk Southern
id=
design= Stone masonry arch bridge
mainspan= 70 feet (21 m)
(48 equal spans)
length= 3,820 feet (1,164 m)
width= 52 feet (16 m)
clearance=
below= 43 feet (13 m)
to avg. level of rock bottom
traffic=
open= March 30, 1902
closed=
toll=
map_cue=
map_

map_text=
map_width=
lat=40.3334
long=-76.9103

The Rockville Bridge, at the time of its completion in 1902, was the longest stone masonry arch railroad viaduct in the world.cite web |url= http://www.arch.state.pa.us/pdfs/H000519_01B.pdf |title= Nationa Register of Historic Places Inventory -- Nomination Form |accessdate= 2007-04-16|format=PDF] Constructed between 1900 - 1902 by the Pennsylvania Railroad, it has forty-eight 70-foot spans, for a total length of 3,820 feet (1,164 m).

The bridge crosses the Susquehanna River about 5 miles (8 km) north of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The eastern end is in Rockville and the western end is just south of Marysville.

The original bridge on the spot opened on September 1, 1849, when the PRR began operating over it. The Northern Central Railway built the Marysville Bridge to the north in 1858, and later moved to the expanded Rockville Bridge. The current bridge was built by Italian laborers, who were working for two contractors (Drake & Stratton), one on the east side of the Susquehanna River and one on the west. [cite web| url=http://www.harrisburgriverboat.com/bridges.htm| date=November 29, 2006| title= Bridges on the Susquehanna River|first=| last=Harrisburg Area Riverboat Society| publisher=harrisburgriverboat.com| accessdate=2006-11-29] For most of its life the bridge carried 4 main line tracks, but which was reduced to three in the 1980s when the PRR Main Line was modernized across Pennsylvania. In the late 1990s a shipping container was blown off an intermodal freight train and landed in the river prompting Norfolk Southern to reconfigure the track layout, terminating the wye track to Enola at the west end of the bridge. This reduced the number of main line tracks to two, but left a buffer zone on either side to prevent further containers ending up in the river. Currently, the bridge is used by the Norfolk Southern and Amtrak. The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.cite web| url=http://www.archiplanet.org/wiki/Rockville_Bridge%2C_Marysville%2C_Pennsylvania| year=2006| title=Rockville Bridge|first=| last=| publisher=archiplanet.org/| accessdate=2007-01-08]

Marysville Bridge - Dauphin Narrows Statue of Liberty

During the construction of the Rockville Bridge, The Northern Central Railway built a bridge to the north in 1858.The Marysville Bridge was a railroad bridge that The Northern Central Railway built , then was later removed. Some of the piers remain today. Some are also submerged. Coord|40|21|35|N|76|55|45|W|region:US_type:landmark|

On July 2,1986 a 25 ft (7.6 m) tall replica of The Staute of Liberty was erected on one of its piers in the Dauphin Narrows of Susquehanna River. The replica was built by a local activist Gene Stilp. It was made of venetian blinds and stood 18 feet (5.5 m) tall. Six years later, after it was destroyed in a windstorm, it was rebuilt by Stilp and other local citizens, of wood, metal, glass and fiberglass, to a height of 25 feet.

ee also

*List of crossings of the Susquehanna River

References

*cite book | author=Cupper, Dan | title=Rockville Bridge -- Rails Across The Susquehenna | publisher=Withers Publishing, Pennsylvania (USA) | year=2002 | id=ISBN 1-881411-34-6

*cite book | author=Jackson, Donald C. | title=Great American Bridges and Dams | publisher=John Wiley & Sons, New York (USA) | year=1984 | id=ISBN 0-471-14385-5

External links

*Pennsylvania's Historical Architecture and Archaeology site photos: [http://www.arch.state.pa.us/images/hires/H000519_02B.jpg] [http://www.arch.state.pa.us/images/hires/H000519_01B.jpg]
* [http://davecathell.tripod.com/rock.html Rockville Bridge] (photos and information)
*
* [http://www.railserve.com/rockville/ Rockville Bridge Photos] (November 5, 2005)
* [http://www.crownover.com/susquehanna20070903.html Susquehanna River Statue of Liberty replica images]
* [http://www.trainweb.org/railpix/crpix1.html Stan's Railpix : Conrail Photo Gallery] ( Rockville Bridge photos from Nov -1994 )Crossings navbox
structure = Bridges
place = Susquehanna River
bridge = Rockville Bridge
bridge signs =
upstream = Clarks Ferry Bridge
upstream signs =
downstream = George N. Wade Memorial Bridge
downstream signs =