Feb 14, 2012

8th Street Bridge


When opened for traffic on November 17, 1913, with seventeen spans, the Albertus L. Meyers Bridge, then known as the Eighth Street Bridge, was the longest and highest reinforced concrete arch bridge in the world.
The Lehigh Valley Transit Company organized the Allentown Bridge Company in 1911 for the sole purpose of building the bridge. The bridge was designed by the engineering firm of B.H. Davis and built by McArthur Brothers of New York City. Costing in excess of $500,000, construction of the bridge required 29,500 cubic yards of concrete and 1.1 million pounds of metal reinforcing rods.
The structure operated as a toll bridge from its November 17, 1913 opening until the 1950s, at which time the toll was five cents for an automobile. The concrete standards that once supported the trolley wire are still standing on the bridge to this day.*

This iconic bridge is a monument to our industrial history; epicenter of both the cement and steel industries. Unfortunately, bridge is suffering. Weeds and undergrowth are being allowed to penetrate the roadbed. Spalling concrete is not being replaced, submitting the reinforcing rods to rust.

Harry C. Trexler, founding member of the Transit Company and Lehigh Portland Cement Co., was a principle player in the construction of this bridge. General Trexler's gravesite, in Fairview Cemetery on Lehigh Street, affords unique views of the bridge and center city Allentown.
*Wikipedia

reprinted from February 2010

5 comments:

  1. "The Lehigh Valley Transit Company organized the Allentown Bridge Company in 1911 for the sole purpose of building the bridge."

    Now THAT'S an organization MAKING IT HAPPEN...



    Alfonso Todd
    www.5minutes2shine.blogspot.com

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  2. You mean there was no special taxing authority established? A simple user fee did it, huh? Let's do that with the skating rink: ticket prices will be $1,000 per game. lol

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  3. I heard that the 8th Street Bridge will be under reconstruction this spring and that the peregrine falcons that nest there may be needing to find another home. Perhaps PPL tower again?

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  4. I found the front page of today's Morning Call (2/15) to be thought-provoking ...

    With gasoline at $ 4.00 a gallon, will anyone have any money left over at all to buy ice hockey tickets for Chairman Pawlowski's exciting pucksters at the magnificent $ 160.0 million dollar PALACE of SPORT ...

    ... even if the cheapest single-game ticket is $ 11.00, as is now advertised by the official Adirondack Phantoms website.

    (Note : tickets purchased on the game day, itself, are subject to a $ 1.00 per ticket "Facility Fee", according to the official disclaimer)

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  5. MM-

    For your readers...$500,000 in 1911 would cost $11,551,318.22 today.


    Voice of Reason

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