98-761: The Benjamin Franklin Bridge , originally named the Delaware River Bridge and known locally as the Ben Franklin Bridge , is a suspension bridge across the Delaware River connecting Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , and Camden, New Jersey . Owned and operated by the Delaware River Port Authority , it is one of four primary vehicular bridges between Philadelphia and southern New Jersey , along with
196-451: A Freedom Card , and magnetic stripe paper cards, valid for three days. PATCO has five different fare zones and it is necessary to retain one's ticket (or card) to exit the station at the proper zone. There is currently no discount for use of the stored value Freedom Card or for multi-ride paper tickets. There are also no unlimited ride pass options, however a reduced fare Freedom Card is available for senior citizens and disabled riders. At
294-522: A Pulse code cab signaling system which transmits signal codes to the trains via the running rails. Wayside signals are located only at interlockings . Even when the Automatic Train Operation System is not in use, the cab signal speed control function is still enabled and if an operator goes above the permitted speed, the power is cut and the brakes are applied until the speed is back within the limit. The entire PATCO system
392-410: A cable-stayed bridge in which the deck is in compression. Cable-stayed bridges and suspension bridges may appear to be similar, but are quite different in principle and in their construction. In suspension bridges, large main cables (normally two) hang between the towers and are anchored at each end to the ground. The main cables, which are free to move on bearings in the towers, bear the load of
490-435: A contactless smart card system designed, built and integrated by Cubic Corporation , the firm responsible for the 1969 magnetic card system. Magnetic tickets are still sold however they are now in the form of disposable paper magnetic stripe cards that expire after 3 days. The new computer vending machines support payment cards. Additional ticket vending machines were installed at each station inside of fare control so that if
588-606: A variable-frequency drive , but this is not the case. Bogies are of the Budd designed Pioneer III variety and while lightweight, provide for a very bouncy ride. The married pair cars shared a single motor control unit and automatic operation box. Many PATCO Car design features also appeared in the M1/M3 class of MU railcars for the Long Island Rail Road which provides for a similar riding experience. PATCO maintained
686-460: A 200 feet span (also termed Beose Bridge) was constructed near Sagar, India during 1828–1830 by Duncan Presgrave, Mint and Assay Master. The Clifton Suspension Bridge (designed in 1831, completed in 1864 with a 214 m central span), is similar to the Sagar bridge. It is one of the longest of the parabolic arc chain type. The current Marlow suspension bridge was designed by William Tierney Clark and
784-492: A bridge has a tendency to collapse simply because of the gravitational forces acting on the materials of which the bridge is made. Live load refers to traffic that moves across the bridge as well as normal environmental factors such as changes in temperature, precipitation, and winds. Dynamic load refers to environmental factors that go beyond normal weather conditions, factors such as sudden gusts of wind and earthquakes. All three factors must be taken into consideration when building
882-468: A bridge. Silver Bridge (USA) was an eyebar chain highway bridge, built in 1928, that collapsed in late 1967, killing forty-six people. The bridge had a low-redundancy design that was difficult to inspect. The collapse inspired legislation to ensure that older bridges were regularly inspected and maintained. Following the collapse a bridge of similar design was immediately closed and eventually demolished. A second similarly-designed bridge had been built with
980-788: A bridge. The principles of suspension used on a large scale also appear in contexts less dramatic than road or rail bridges. Light cable suspension may prove less expensive and seem more elegant for a cycle or footbridge than strong girder supports. An example of this is the Nescio Bridge in the Netherlands, and the Roebling designed 1904 Riegelsville suspension pedestrian bridge across the Delaware River in Pennsylvania. The longest pedestrian suspension bridge, which spans
1078-446: A concrete "zipper" barrier , which can be mechanically moved to configure the lanes for traffic volume or construction. Red and green signals mounted on overhead gantries indicate which lanes are open or closed to traffic in each direction. The lights indicate closures for construction, accidents or breakdown as well as traffic separation. Generally, during the morning rush hour, there are four lanes open westbound and three eastbound, with
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#17327726460901176-403: A higher margin of safety and remained in service until 1991. The Tacoma Narrows Bridge , (USA), 1940, was vulnerable to structural vibration in sustained and moderately strong winds due to its plate-girder deck structure. Wind caused a phenomenon called aeroelastic fluttering that led to its collapse only months after completion. The collapse was captured on film. There were no human deaths in
1274-589: A new tunnel under the Delaware and three lines in New Jersey. Route A would run to Moorestown , Route B to Kirkwood (now Lindenwold), and Route C to Woodbury Heights . A later study by Louis T. Klauder & Associates recommended using the Bridge Line instead to reach Philadelphia and suggested building Route B first, as it had the highest potential ridership. Over the weekend of August 23 to 27, 1968,
1372-489: A pair of doors on each side with a foyer area inside the doors for standing passengers . There are also hand-holds on all seat backs for standing passengers the entire length of the aisles. Car end-doors are unlocked, but inter-car movement is discouraged because of the extreme motions between cars. Interior cabs are halved to free up the space for passengers, however both cabs at the front and rear of any train are left in their full width configuration. PATCO announced plans for
1470-906: A pedestrian suspension bridge over the Machchhu River in the city of Morbi, Gujarat, India collapsed, leading to the deaths of at least 141 people. Port Authority Transit Corporation The PATCO Speedline , signed in Philadelphia as the Lindenwold Line and also known colloquially as the PATCO High Speed Line , is a rapid transit route operated by the Port Authority Transit Corporation ( PATCO ), which runs between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , and Camden County, New Jersey . The line runs underground in Philadelphia, crosses
1568-647: A proposal by Robert Stevenson for a bridge over the River Almond near Edinburgh . Roebling's Delaware Aqueduct (begun 1847) consists of three sections supported by cables. The timber structure essentially hides the cables; and from a quick view, it is not immediately apparent that it is even a suspension bridge. The main suspension cables in older bridges were often made from a chain or linked bars, but modern bridge cables are made from multiple strands of wire. This not only adds strength but improves reliability (often called redundancy in engineering terms) because
1666-467: A rider has purchased the wrong fare, they may pay the remaining fare to exit. NJ Transit buses connect to most PATCO stations in New Jersey. The New Jersey Transit Atlantic City Line also stops at Lindenwold Station, and the River Line connects at Broadway Station ( Walter Rand Transportation Center ). The SEPTA Market–Frankford Line connects to PATCO at the 8th & Market Station , which
1764-499: A scrap dealer in Ohio, and rebuilt them to provide PATCO with extra DC motors for future replacement if needed, or required. The first rebuilt cars were redelivered to PATCO's Lindenwold, New Jersey Shops on November 12, 2013, and were tested accordingly before going into service. Rebuilt cars are being renumbered into the 1000 series instead of their former numbers. The former single unit cars were converted into married-pair type cars with
1862-541: A sequence generally described as follows. Depending on length and size, construction may take anywhere between a year and a half (construction on the original Tacoma Narrows Bridge took only 19 months) up to as long as a decade (the Akashi-Kaikyō Bridge's construction began in May 1986 and was opened in May 1998 – a total of twelve years). Suspension bridges are typically ranked by the length of their main span. These are
1960-470: A special "SEPTA Transfer" ticket could be purchased from the unpaid side of any New Jersey station. These tickets were sold for $ 3.50 ($ 1.75 per ride, a savings compared to a single $ 2.25 cash fare or a token for $ 2.00) and dispensed two paper receipts, one good for a ride within one hour of the time of purchase and another good for a ride within 24 hours of the time of purchase. Originally, both transfers were going to be valid for 24 hours, however, PATCO changed
2058-499: A temporary walkway. Poured sockets are used to make a high strength, permanent cable termination. They are created by inserting the suspender wire rope (at the bridge deck supports) into the narrow end of a conical cavity which is oriented in-line with the intended direction of strain. The individual wires are splayed out inside the cone or 'capel', and the cone is then filled with molten lead-antimony-tin (Pb80Sb15Sn5) solder. Most suspension bridges have open truss structures to support
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#17327726460902156-550: Is a type of bridge in which the deck is hung below suspension cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridges , which lack vertical suspenders, have a long history in many mountainous parts of the world. Besides the bridge type most commonly called suspension bridges, covered in this article, there are other types of suspension bridges . The type covered here has cables suspended between towers , with vertical suspender cables that transfer
2254-645: Is considered the last remaining Inca rope bridge and is rebuilt annually. The first iron chain suspension bridge in the Western world was the Jacob's Creek Bridge (1801) in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania , designed by inventor James Finley . Finley's bridge was the first to incorporate all of the necessary components of a modern suspension bridge, including a suspended deck which hung by trusses. Finley patented his design in 1808, and published it in
2352-419: Is it less effort, but it also tends to result in faster trips. The system was designed for one-person operation by exclusively utilizing island platforms and right-handed operation with operators sitting on the left side of the vehicle where they can open their window and monitor the boarding process. Where trains have to use the "wrong" side, mirrors are provided to give the operator a proper view. Prior to
2450-417: Is open at a time. The DRPA temporarily closed the walkways to the public the day after the 7 July 2005 London bombings , citing security concerns. The DRPA also closes the walkway after snowfall, or if the weather forecast includes a chance of snowfall, and closed it in late August 2011 during Hurricane Irene and in late October 2012 during Hurricane Sandy . Suspension bridge A suspension bridge
2548-545: Is owned by the City of Philadelphia and leased by PATCO. Despite the extension, Bridge Line ridership was limited by high fares and not extending east of Camden. In January 1954, due to low ridership on the extension, off-peak service and Saturday again began operating between Girard and Camden, with a shuttle train operating between 8th and 16th stations. Sunday service was suspended west of 8th Street at that time due to minimal usage. By 1962, only 1,900 daily passengers boarded
2646-510: Is run from Center Tower, centrally located above a substation near the Broadway station in Camden. All PATCO trains are electrically powered. Power comes from a top contact covered third rail at 750 V DC . There are two feeds from the commercial power grid, one located in Philadelphia from PECO Energy for the old Bridge Line tunnel segments and the other in New Jersey from PSE&G for
2744-565: Is scheduled to reopen in 2025. The project is budgeted at $ 29.3 million with construction expected to begin in 2021. The station will be updated to modern standards and accessibility with a surface structure planned at Franklin Square . In 2021, the City of Philadelphia proposed a westward PATCO expansion to the rapidly-growing University City district via a new rail tunnel under the Schuylkill River . The 40th Street Trolley Portal
2842-459: Is two blocks away from SEPTA's Jefferson Station , where all but one of SEPTA's Regional Rail trains stop. SEPTA's Broad Street Line connects to PATCO at the Walnut–Locust station via a short underground walkway to PATCO's 12th-13th & Locust, and 15-16th & Locust stations. The Broad-Ridge Spur connects to PATCO at the 8th & Market Station via a pedestrian walkway. Formerly,
2940-624: The Betsy Ross , Walt Whitman , and Tacony-Palmyra bridges. It carries Interstate 676 / U.S. Route 30 , pedestrians/cyclists, and the PATCO Speedline . The bridge was dedicated as part of the 1926 Sesquicentennial Exposition , celebrating the 150th anniversary of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence . From 1926 to 1929, it had the longest single span of any suspension bridge in
3038-711: The COVID-19 pandemic , with trains bypassing 12–13th & Locust , City Hall , Westmont , and Ashland stations. Westbound express service was also suspended. The four stations reopened on September 14, 2020, but express service remained suspended. PATCO originally operated 121 67-foot (20.42 m) cars which were acquired in two separate orders, labeled PATCO I and PATCO II. The original PATCO I cars were designed and manufactured by Budd of Philadelphia in 1968. Cars numbered 101-125 were single units, and cars numbered 201-250 were in permanently coupled married pairs . The PATCO II cars were delivered in 1980 (in parallel with
Benjamin Franklin Bridge - Misplaced Pages Continue
3136-725: The Delaware River on the Benjamin Franklin Bridge , runs underground in Camden , then runs above ground to the east end of the line in Lindenwold, New Jersey (with the Haddonfield, New Jersey stop being below street level). The Port Authority Transit Corporation and the Speedline are owned and operated by the Delaware River Port Authority . The line opened between Lindenwold and Camden on January 4, 1969, with
3234-836: The Mahakam River , located in Kutai Kartanegara Regency , East Kalimantan district on the Indonesia island of Borneo , was built in 1995, completed in 2001 and collapsed in 2011. Dozens of vehicles on the bridge fell into the Mahakam River . As a result of this incident, 24 people died and dozens of others were injured and were treated at the Aji Muhammad Parikesit Regional Hospital. Meanwhile, 12 people were reported missing, 31 people were seriously injured, and 8 people had minor injuries. Research findings indicate that
3332-642: The PATCO Speedline , which descends into tunnels on both sides of the bridge. Both, the Eastbound and Westbound railroad tracks and support structure were reconstructed from June 2014 and finished October 2014. The bridge carries highways I-676 and US 30 , but only the New Jersey section of the bridge carries I-676, as the section of the bridge approaches on the Pennsylvania side are not up to interstate highway standards, including at-grade traffic crossings. The Pennsylvania section of I-676 (which runs east–west, and not north–south as New Jersey's I-676 does) ends at
3430-504: The Walt Whitman Bridge , was under construction. The bridge was closed to vehicles on July 1, 2001, to allow pedestrians to celebrate its 75th anniversary. The bridge originally included six vehicle lanes and two streetcar tracks on the main deck, with provision for a rapid transit track in each direction outboard of the deck's stiffening trusses, which rise above the deck rather than lie beneath it. The tracks were built to
3528-448: The live and dead loads of the deck below, upon which traffic crosses. This arrangement allows the deck to be level or to arc upward for additional clearance. Like other suspension bridge types, this type often is constructed without the use of falsework . The suspension cables must be anchored at each end of the bridge, since any load applied to the bridge is transformed into tension in these main cables. The main cables continue beyond
3626-469: The 1970s. PATCO runs the majority of its trains in 2-, 4- or 6-car configurations. Before the Alstom rebuild, single-unit trains were occasionally seen late at night, while 3- or 5-car trains were encountered only when not enough cars are available to meet the service requirement. All stations are capable of handling 7- or 8-car trains, but these lengths have never been run except for brief testing and for
3724-497: The 19th century. These railroads all terminated in Camden , where passengers could catch ferries across the Delaware River to Philadelphia . Early in the 20th century, the idea of a fixed Delaware River crossing connecting Camden and Philadelphia gained traction, and in 1919, the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey formed the Delaware River Bridge Joint Commission to build a bridge between
3822-653: The 2-car trains and social distancing requirements of the COVID 19 pandemic further increased the use of 6-car trainsets during off-peak times. Since December 2019 4-car (doors not open on the first and last cars) late night trains operate every 60 minutes instead of the previous schedule of every 45 minutes with a PATCO police officer reported to be onboard all trains from 12 a.m. to 4 a.m. on weekdays and from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. on weekends. City Hall station in Camden and 9/10th & Locust station in Philadelphia are closed overnight due to low ridership. PATCO trains are governed by
3920-546: The Alstom facility in Hornell, New York , in March 2011. The refurbishment consisted of a completely new interior with more modern colors, wheelchair access and more reliable HVAC systems. The rollsigns were replaced with digital displays, and the cars received automated announcement systems, with announcements recorded by Bernie Wagenblast . These changes reduced seating by eight seats, from 160 to 152. The refurbishment also saw
4018-487: The DRPA approved an increase in the toll for passenger vehicles from $ 5.00 to $ 6.00, which went into effect on September 1, 2024. There are proposals for a Camden-Philadelphia BRT , a bus rapid transit system between the two cities extending into Camden and Gloucester that would use the bridge. Pedestrian walkways run along both sides of the bridge, elevated over and separated from the vehicular lanes; of these, only one
Benjamin Franklin Bridge - Misplaced Pages Continue
4116-607: The Golden Gate Bridge. The bridge opened to traffic on July 1, 1926, three days ahead of its scheduled opening on the nation's 150th anniversary. At completion, its 1,750-foot (533-meter) span was the world's longest for a suspension bridge , a distinction it held until the opening of the Ambassador Bridge in 1929. The name was changed to "Benjamin Franklin Bridge" in 1955, since a second Delaware River suspension bridge connecting Philadelphia and New Jersey,
4214-519: The PATCO I cars was found to have certain reliability issues and was completely rebuilt to the PATCO II standard after the PATCO II cars arrived. As built, the PATCO cars used camshaft resistance type motor controllers common to DC powered rapid transit vehicles up through the 1980s. The unique whine of the motors and gear assemblies can lead many to mistake the cars for using thyristor drive or even
4312-716: The Philadelphia journal, The Port Folio , in 1810. Early British chain bridges included the Dryburgh Abbey Bridge (1817) and 137 m Union Bridge (1820), with spans rapidly increasing to 176 m with the Menai Bridge (1826), "the first important modern suspension bridge". The first chain bridge on the German speaking territories was the Chain Bridge in Nuremberg . The Sagar Iron Suspension Bridge with
4410-646: The Ridge Spur was connected to a new upper-level terminal platform at 8th Street station to allow conversion of the Bridge Line into the "High-Speed Line". Bridge Line service was split into 16th Street–8th Street and 8th Street–Camden segments during the conversion, with a cross-platform transfer at 8th Street. Bridge Line service was suspended on December 29, 1968, for final conversion of the line. Service from Lindenwold station to Camden along former Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines trackage began on January 4, 1969; full service into Center City Philadelphia over
4508-552: The River Paiva, Arouca Geopark , Portugal, opened in April 2021. The 516 metres bridge hangs 175 meters above the river. Where such a bridge spans a gap between two buildings, there is no need to construct towers, as the buildings can anchor the cables. Cable suspension may also be augmented by the inherent stiffness of a structure that has much in common with a tubular bridge . Typical suspension bridges are constructed using
4606-500: The annual holiday "Santa Train" special for children. In its first several decades, PATCO actively managed consist length based on ridership levels as opposed to running trains in fixed sets, with single car trains making the occasional appearance overnight prior to the elimination of single cars as part of the rebuild. Due to recent capital improvements, weekend and mid-day headways have grown, prompting PATCO to run 4 or 6 car trains during most off peak times, albeit less frequently than
4704-515: The bridge began on February 15, 1969. The Lindenwold extension cost $ 92 million. An infill park and ride station, Woodcrest , was added on February 1, 1980, along with the PATCO II railcars. Ferry Avenue Local trains were replaced with Woodcrest Local trains on September 20, 1980. In 2005, PATCO officials began planning a new route in the corridor of the originally proposed Route C that would serve Gloucester County and end in Glassboro on
4802-432: The bridge deck. Before the deck is installed, the cables are under tension from their own weight. Along the main cables smaller cables or rods connect to the bridge deck, which is lifted in sections. As this is done, the tension in the cables increases, as it does with the live load of traffic crossing the bridge. The tension on the main cables is transferred to the ground at the anchorages and by downwards compression on
4900-487: The bridge from its opening until the company abandoned its Camden streetcar system in 1932; after that, the tracks were removed, and the space was converted to vehicular lanes. The outer pair of rapid transit tracks went into service in 1936 with the opening of the Bridge Line subway connecting Broadway and City Hall in Camden with 8th and Market Streets in Philadelphia. The Bridge Line, extended to 16th and Locust in 1952, began carrying PATCO trains in 1969. Today, it carries
4998-423: The bridge. A later proposal by John Alexander Low Waddell employed helical approaches to avoid purchasing expensive land for approaches to a high-level suspension bridge. None of these proposals were constructed. To find a permanent solution, the Delaware River Bridge Joint Commission, now the Delaware River Port Authority , was created in 1919. The chief engineer of the bridge was Polish-born Ralph Modjeski ,
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#17327726460905096-491: The chains are not attached to abutments as is usual, but instead are attached to the main girders, which are thus in compression. Here, the chains are made from flat wrought iron plates, eight inches (203 mm) wide by an inch and a half (38 mm) thick, rivetted together. The first wire-cable suspension bridge was the Spider Bridge at Falls of Schuylkill (1816), a modest and temporary footbridge built following
5194-631: The collapse of James Finley's nearby Chain Bridge at Falls of Schuylkill (1808). The footbridge's span was 124 m, although its deck was only 0.45 m wide. Development of wire-cable suspension bridges dates to the temporary simple suspension bridge at Annonay built by Marc Seguin and his brothers in 1822. It spanned only 18 m. The first permanent wire cable suspension bridge was Guillaume Henri Dufour 's Saint Antoine Bridge in Geneva of 1823, with two 40 m spans. The first with cables assembled in mid-air in
5292-529: The collapse was largely caused by the construction failure of the vertical hanging clamp. It was also found that poor maintenance, fatigue in the cable hanger construction materials, material quality, and bridge loads that exceed vehicle capacity, can also have an impact on bridge collapse. In 2013 the Kutai Kartanegara Bridge rebuilt the same location and completed in 2015 with a Through arch bridge design. On 30 October 2022, Jhulto Pul ,
5390-522: The collapse; several drivers escaped their cars on foot and reached the anchorages before the span dropped. Yarmouth suspension bridge (England) was built in 1829 and collapsed in 1845, killing 79 people. Peace River Suspension Bridge (Canada), which was completed in 1943, collapsed when the north anchor's soil support for the suspension bridge failed in October 1957. The entire bridge subsequently collapsed. Kutai Kartanegara Bridge (Indonesia) over
5488-409: The complete refurbishment of the entire fleet with work expected to begin in 2009. The contract for rebuilding the rolling stock was awarded to Alstom , at a cost of $ 194.2 million, beating Bombardier 's bid by $ 35 million, though Bombardier claimed the contract was incorrectly awarded. PATCO began to ship the railcars with their trucks removed and replaced with highway tires for the road trip to
5586-414: The design engineer was Leon Moisseiff , the supervising architect was Paul Philippe Cret , and the construction engineer was Montgomery B. Case . Work began on January 6, 1922. At the peak of construction, 1,300 people worked on the bridge, and 15 died during its construction. The bridge was originally painted by a commercial painting company owned by David A. Salkind, of Philadelphia, which also painted
5684-425: The direction of travel, and half facing the opposite direction. Seats originally ran the full length of the car, with the front seats next to the operator's booth having the benefit of a large picture window. However, the newly refurbished cars now have full-width operator's cabs, resulting in the loss of four passenger seats, in addition to a number of folding longitudinal seats for ADA compliance. Each PATCO car has
5782-405: The equipment to read and code the farecards began to suffer from reliability problems with little replacement part availability. More importantly, the fare system could not accept payment cards and the reliance on change machines created an extra step for those needing to pay with paper currency. In July 2006, PATCO announced that it would start the transition from a magnetic ticket fare system to
5880-584: The failure of a few flawed strands in the hundreds used pose very little threat of failure, whereas a single bad link or eyebar can cause failure of an entire bridge. (The failure of a single eyebar was found to be the cause of the collapse of the Silver Bridge over the Ohio River .) Another reason is that as spans increased, engineers were unable to lift larger chains into position, whereas wire strand cables can be formulated one by one in mid-air from
5978-521: The four New Jersey fare zones with the Camden zone tickets also used for intra-Philadelphia travel. Used tickets with no remaining rides were retained by the faregates, re-encoded at a PATCO facility and returned to use in the vending machine. Ten-trip tickets could also be purchased through mail order or from ticket windows at select suburban stations. At its inception, this system was state-of-the-art, but became increasingly problematic as they aged. Tickets were vulnerable to damage from magnetic sources and
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#17327726460906076-400: The full line to Philadelphia opening a few weeks later on February 15, 1969. The PATCO Speedline operates 24 hours a day, one of only a few U.S. mass transit systems to do so. In 2023, the line saw 5,452,000 rides, or about 18,500 per weekday in the third quarter of 2024. The present-day PATCO Speedline follows the route of several historical mainline railroad lines, some dating back to
6174-639: The grounds of Rowan University , formerly Glassboro State College. On May 12, 2009, Jon Corzine , the Governor of New Jersey, formally endorsed a diesel light rail along an existing Conrail right-of-way, which was selected because of its lower capital cost and operating cost. The proposed Glassboro–Camden Line would require riders to transfer to the Speedline at the Walter Rand Transportation Center for trips to Philadelphia. The 1936 Franklin Square station , closed since 1979,
6272-432: The highway, which may be supported by suspender cables or their own trusswork . In cases where trusswork supports the spans, there will be very little arc in the outboard main cables. The earliest suspension bridges were ropes slung across a chasm, with a deck possibly at the same level or hung below the ropes such that the rope had a catenary shape. The Tibetan siddha and bridge-builder Thangtong Gyalpo originated
6370-814: The line west of 8th Street. To facilitate the construction of extensions in Southern New Jersey, the states expanded the powers of the Delaware River Joint Commission (which owned the Benjamin Franklin Bridge and the New Jersey portion of the Bridge Line), rechristening it as the Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA) in 1951. The agency commissioned Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Hall & MacDonald to study possible rapid transit services for South Jersey; Parsons, Brinckerhoff's final report recommended building
6468-534: The live loads. In an underspanned suspension bridge, also called under-deck cable-stayed bridge, the main cables hang entirely below the bridge deck, but are still anchored into the ground in a similar way to the conventional type. Very few bridges of this nature have been built, as the deck is inherently less stable than when suspended below the cables. Examples include the Pont des Bergues of 1834 designed by Guillaume Henri Dufour ; James Smith's Micklewood Bridge; and
6566-443: The manual announcements with automated announcements. Trains operate at a maximum of 65 mph (105 km/h) on the surface portion of the system, 40 mph (64 km/h) over the bridge, and 30 mph (48 km/h) in the subway portion. Trains used to have a top speed of 75 mph (121 km/h) on the surface portion, but this caused excessive wear on the traction motors and was cut back to 65 mph (105 km/h) in
6664-477: The married pairs by having an extra single leaf door located behind each operators booth. This was installed before the fare collection system was finalized and there was a possibility of operators collecting fares on board during the late night hours. The PATCO I cars were originally fitted with WABCO Model N-2 MU couplers. Because of reliability issues these were replaced by Tomlinson type couplers manufactured by Ohio Brass Company. The original electrical system in
6762-702: The modern method was Joseph Chaley 's Grand Pont Suspendu in Fribourg , in 1834. In the United States, the first major wire-cable suspension bridge was the Wire Bridge at Fairmount in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Designed by Charles Ellet Jr. and completed in 1842, it had a span of 109 m. Ellet's Niagara Falls suspension bridge (1847–48) was abandoned before completion. It was used as scaffolding for John A. Roebling 's double decker railroad and carriage bridge (1855). The Otto Beit Bridge (1938–1939)
6860-430: The new mainline segments. In New Jersey power is distributed via wayside AC transmission lines in the 26.4 kV range and a series of 7 substations, located approximately every 2 miles (3.2 km). PATCO was one of the first transit systems to employ automated fare collection and tickets with magnetically stored data. It currently uses two types of farecards: reusable contactless smart cards for frequent riders, known as
6958-548: The nonstandard broad gauge of the Public Service Corporation of New Jersey's Camden streetcar system; the design called for the streetcars to cross the bridge from Camden to Philadelphia, enter an underground terminal beneath the bridge's west entrance plaza, and return to Camden via the opposite track. Streetcar stations were also built in the bridge's anchorages. None of the streetcar facilities were ever placed in service, as Public Service ran no cars across
7056-699: The on-board ATO gear will supply maximum acceleration or maximum braking force to reach that target speed. Automatic station stops are handled by track mounted transponders and can be overridden by the operator for non-stopping trains. The system suffers from problems handling slippery track conditions and human operators are required to take control in any sort of precipitation. Because of the ATO limitations, drivers must make one trip per day under manual operation to stay in practice and are not penalized for running their trains manually at any time of their choosing. In practice, most operators prefer automatic operation as not only
7154-530: The opening of the Woodcrest Park and ride facility) and consisted of married pairs numbered 251-296. The PATCO II cars were manufactured by Vickers Canada under a license from Budd, but are nearly indistinguishable from the PATCO I's, the only differences being that the PATCO II cars had a fixed partition behind the operator's booth and lack a stainless steel shroud below the door line to ease access to traction components. The single units differed from
7252-406: The pillars to deck-level supports, and further continue to connections with anchors in the ground. The roadway is supported by vertical suspender cables or rods, called hangers. In some circumstances, the towers may sit on a bluff or canyon edge where the road may proceed directly to the main span. Otherwise, the bridge will typically have two smaller spans, running between either pair of pillars and
7350-413: The railing and the walking layer of Gyalpo's bridges used wires. The stress points that carried the screed were reinforced by the iron chains. Before the use of iron chains it is thought that Gyalpo used ropes from twisted willows or yak skins. He may have also used tightly bound cloth. The Inca used rope bridges , documented as early as 1615. It is not known when they were first made. Queshuachaca
7448-469: The ramps to I-95. I-676 is signed across the bridge from both sides, however, to be less confusing to drivers. Before the 1953 New Jersey state highway renumbering , New Jersey Route 25 (Route 25), Route 43 , and Route 45 ended in the middle of the bridge, and I-76 was signed on the bridge until 1972, when it switched routings with I-676, which until then ran across the Walt Whitman Bridge . The seven vehicular lanes are divided by
7546-411: The rebuild, the operator was not isolated from the passenger cabin, instead being surrounded by a low partition. As of 2018 all of the legacy vehicles have been rebuilt with modern controls and full width cabs. Operators are still responsible for opening and closing the doors, sounding the horn, starting the train from station stops and manually operating the train when necessary. The rebuild also replaced
7644-400: The rebuilding process. The final run of the non-refurbished "legacy" trains took place on June 10, 2018, with a special day of "last rides" and a contest held for a rider to sit in the front row seat for the last ride. As of March 24, 2019 , the refurbishment work has been completed with a total of 120 of the previous 121 cars accepted back into service. The remaining single unit #116
7742-513: The replacement of the propulsion and automatic train operation systems, which used technology last updated in the early 1980s; the camshaft resistance type motor controller was replaced by a new solid state unit using IGBTs and the relay based ATO unit was replaced by a computerized system. The General Electric DC motors, Pioneer III trucks and gearboxes were not replaced, but rebuilt by Alstom as well. Also, Alstom purchased many extra GE 1255 A2 motors from retired Metro-North Railroad M-1A's from
7840-612: The roadbed, particularly owing to the unfavorable effects of using plate girders, discovered from the Tacoma Narrows Bridge (1940) bridge collapse. In the 1960s, developments in bridge aerodynamics allowed the re-introduction of plate structures as shallow box girders , first seen on the Severn bridge , built 1961–1966. In the picture of the Yichang Bridge , note the very sharp entry edge and sloping undergirders in
7938-422: The same interior styling in its vehicles from their introduction in 1969 through the end of the rebuilding process in 2018 with the 1980 PATCO II cars receiving the exact same look. The color combination was a base of cream with an avocado green fill. The rebuild replaced this with a grey and white interior with brighter fluorescent lighting. Seating is a 2+2 arrangement, with half of the seats in each car facing
8036-427: The single-leaf door behind the train operators position removed and sealed-off. The rebuilding is expected to extend the lives of these cars by 20 years. The first four rebuilt cars were placed in revenue service on May 28, 2015, after over a year and a half of testing. Alstom proceeded with the rebuilding of the remaining fleet of cars at a production and delivery rate of 4 to 6 cars per month until all cars went through
8134-433: The situation reversed during the evening rush hour. Before the zipper barrier was installed in 2000-2001, one lane of the bridge was kept closed at peak times to reduce the risk of head-on collisions as there was no physical barrier separating east and westbound traffic. Effective July 2011, one-way tolls to cross the bridge are charged in the westbound (towards Pennsylvania) direction. The charges include: On July 17, 2024,
8232-407: The start of service in 1969, PATCO used a system of plastic tickets with an oxide layer on the entire back side for the magnetic encoding of data. Tickets were pre-encoded with a number of rides and a destination zone and sold from ticket vending machines in each station. These machines only accepted coins so bill changers were placed in stations to support paper currency. Each ticket vending machine
8330-401: The suspension bridge shown. This enables this type of construction to be used without the danger of vortex shedding and consequent aeroelastic effects, such as those that destroyed the original Tacoma Narrows bridge. Three kinds of forces operate on any bridge: the dead load, the live load, and the dynamic load. Dead load refers to the weight of the bridge itself. Like any other structure,
8428-514: The ten bridges with the longest spans, followed by the length of the span and the year the bridge opened for traffic: (Chronological) Broughton Suspension Bridge (England) was an iron chain bridge built in 1826. One of Europe's first suspension bridges, it collapsed in 1831 due to mechanical resonance induced by troops marching in step. As a result of the incident, the British Army issued an order that troops should "break step" when crossing
8526-489: The towers. In cable-stayed bridges, the towers are the primary load-bearing structures that transmit the bridge loads to the ground. A cantilever approach is often used to support the bridge deck near the towers, but lengths further from them are supported by cables running directly to the towers. By design, all static horizontal forces of the cable-stayed bridge are balanced so that the supporting towers do not tend to tilt or slide and so must only resist horizontal forces from
8624-610: The two cities. The Delaware River Bridge, now the Benjamin Franklin Bridge , was designed to accommodate both rail and road traffic. When it opened on July 1, 1926, it had two outboard structures beside the main roadway for rail and space for two streetcar tracks (never installed) on the main road deck. Construction of the rail line did not begin until 1932, and the Bridge Line opened on June 7, 1936. Relatively short, it only had four stations: 8th Street and Franklin Square in Philadelphia, and City Hall and Broadway in Camden. Connection
8722-568: The use of iron chains in his version of simple suspension bridges . In 1433, Gyalpo built eight bridges in eastern Bhutan . The last surviving chain-linked bridge of Gyalpo's was the Thangtong Gyalpo Bridge in Duksum en route to Trashi Yangtse , which was finally washed away in 2004. Gyalpo's iron chain bridges did not include a suspended-deck bridge , which is the standard on all modern suspension bridges today. Instead, both
8820-423: The weight of the cables is small compared to the weight of the deck. One can see the shape from the constant increase of the gradient of the cable with linear (deck) distance, this increase in gradient at each connection with the deck providing a net upward support force. Combined with the relatively simple constraints placed upon the actual deck, that makes the suspension bridge much simpler to design and analyze than
8918-507: The world. Plans for a bridge to augment the ferries across the Delaware River began as early as 1818, when one plan envisioned using Smith Island, a narrow island off the Philadelphia shore that was removed in 1893. Local engineer John C. Trautwine proposed a four-span suspension bridge in 1851. In 1868, a committee of Philadelphia and Camden interests proposed a unique design with two parallel low-level drawbridge spans which would allow ships to pass in stages without interrupting traffic across
9016-541: Was available to the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines at Broadway. In Philadelphia, the line joined the 1932-opened Broad-Ridge Spur just west of Franklin Square and shared its 8th Street/Market Street station . An underground tunnel continuing south following 8th Street then west following Locust Street to 18th Street, had been started in 1917 as part of plans for a Center City subway loop. The shell of this 8th–Locust Street subway
9114-661: Was built between 1829 and 1832, replacing a wooden bridge further downstream which collapsed in 1828. It is the only suspension bridge across the non-tidal Thames. The Széchenyi Chain Bridge , (designed in 1840, opened in 1849), spanning the River Danube in Budapest, was also designed by William Clark and it is a larger-scale version of Marlow Bridge. An interesting variation is Thornewill and Warham 's Ferry Bridge in Burton-on-Trent , Staffordshire (1889), where
9212-436: Was capable of selling two types of tickets, which the rider chose by pushing a button after inserting the correct fare. Because the system has multiple fare zones, several machines were needed in each station. Stations in New Jersey had machines selling one way or round trip tickets to Philadelphia and machines selling tickets to other stations in New Jersey. Ticket machines in Philadelphia would sell single ride tickets to each of
9310-526: Was completed, but not outfitted for passenger service, in 1933. Beginning in June 1949, Bridge Line and Ridge Spur services were through-routed, providing one-seat service between Girard station and Camden. Construction on the 8th–Locust Street subway resumed in 1950. Bridge Line service was extended to 15–16th & Locust station , with intermediate stations at 12–13th & Locust station and 9–10th & Locust station , on February 14, 1953. This section
9408-594: Was excluded from the rebuilding program due to having been damaged beyond repair by an arson fire in 1997 and subsequently used as a source of spare parts. PATCO was one of the first transit systems to incorporate automatic train operation (ATO) for regular service. The PATCO ATO is an analog system that makes use of pulse code cab signaling supplied by Union Switch & Signal . The cab signals supply one of five different speeds (20 mph [32 km/h], 30 mph [48 km/h], 40 mph [64 km/h], 65 mph [105 km/h] or full stop) and
9506-752: Was identified as a possible terminus, near the University of Pennsylvania and several major hospitals. A connection at Penn Medicine station would provide direct SEPTA Regional Rail transfers with the Media/Wawa Line to Delaware County , the Wilmington/Newark Line to the state of Delaware , and the Airport Line to Philadelphia International Airport . Next steps include a feasibility study and cost estimate. The line began operating limited service on March 28, 2020, due to
9604-404: Was the first modern suspension bridge outside the United States built with parallel wire cables. Two towers/pillars, two suspension cables, four suspension cable anchors, multiple suspender cables, the bridge deck. The main cables of a suspension bridge will form a catenary when hanging under their own weight only. When supporting the deck, the cables will instead form a parabola , assuming
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