Bushkill Street Bridge (Easton-Phillipsburg) construction -- 1938 -- Reel 5

Описание: This video content is provided courtesy of the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission (DRJTBC), owners of the original 16mm film footage.

This content is provided to the public for historical and educational purposes. Any sale, reproduction or other use of this video footage and images without the DRJTBC’s written consent is prohibited.

The ensuing reel of footage was stored for five or more decades in an engineering department file room at the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission’s former administration building in Morrisville, PA. The footage was discovered and converted to a digitized video format.

This footage shows various aspects of the Great Depression-era construction of the Bushkill Street Bridge between Easton, PA. and Phillipsburg, N.J. The bridge was renamed the Easton-Phillipsburg Toll Bridge after a “super-highway” Route 22 approach was constructed through Easton in the 1950s.

This is the last reel of film footage from the Bushkill Street Bridge construction project. This reel consists of footage apparently taken in fall 1937 and early 1938. The bridge opened to traffic January 14, 1938.

Content includes:
• Views of the bridge’s “orthotropic type bridge deck”
• Preparations and installations of the original asphalt block road surfaces on the bridge and its adjoining approach viaduct in Phillipsburg
• Note: The underlying steel flooring system proved problematic over the years. As these steel sections heated up in summer months, overlying asphalt applications softened and became uneven. This caused rutting and shoving of the driving surface. The problem appears to have been addressed during the bridge’s extensive rehabilitation between 2013 and 2015, when a new-age polymer-infused Rosphalt® surface was applied.