Suspension Bridge in Reading

I have seen a lot of photos of the suspension bridge in Reading PA that went over the yards. Was this a pedestrian bridge? Does it still stand? Reminds me of the Brooklyn Bridge a bit.

Pedestrian bridge. Same architect as Brooklyn Bridge! Bridge has been gone for more then twenty years, was taken down by Conrail in a sneaky move. One tower remains in a local park.

Joshua

anyone have any pics?

it's really sad the amount of railroad architecture that is foresaken, besides the actual rails

I was searching http://memory.loc.gov for some old railroad maps, and I stumbled across the mentioned pedestrian bridge.

There is some info and you can see some pictures of it here:

http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hhh.pa1782

It does have a brooklyn bridge style design in the towers.

Where is the reconstructed tower located? I haven't been to Reading in a while (too long) and did not know it had been preserved?

glennk419 wrote:Where is the reconstructed tower located? I haven't been to Reading in a while (too long) and did not know it had been preserved?

Glenn, I have no idea. I'm not familiar with Reading and didn't even know about the bridge before this topic came up here.

I think that the article mentioned the bridge tower was in a park by the river. A quick glance at google maps only showed two parks by the river: Poplar Neck Park, and Angelica Park. Looking at the satellite photo in google maps sucked, since they have low-res footable of the area, but mapquest was much better. Making a guess, I suspect that the tower would be located in Poplar Neck Park, which can be seen here:


Big Mapquest Link

A quick google on "Poplar Neck Park" shows that it's actually built on a landfill and may be closed down now.

I think we need a Readling local person to tell us where the tower is now.

Here's how to get to the Swinging Bridge tower in Reading PA.
Coming from east or west, you want to be on Route 422 (the west shore bypass).
Take the exit for Penn STREET - Reading (NOT Penn AVENUE - West Reading). Once you take the exit, go over the bridge to the light. Turn right at the light on to 2nd street. Follow 2nd street all the way to the end, and turn left.
You will now be on Canal Street. Go under the bridge, past the Canal Street Pub (BIG Reading Hardware building will be on your left). The Heritage Park is in the small grassy area on the right, right past the pub. The Swinging Bridge tower is there.

Any questions, email me [email protected]. And feel free to visit my website, www.readinglayout.com

Thanks,
Tom J.

Thanks Tom.

Like I said, it's been way too long since I paid a visit to Reading and vicinity. This may just be the excuse I was looking for (besides the new camera I got for my birthday).

I stumbled across some more pictures of this bridge today:

http://en.structurae.de/structures/data ... d=s0011000

http://www.bridgemeister.com/list.php?t ... nnsylvania
Scroll down to: 1887 Swinging where it has links to these pictures:

http://www.bridgemeister.com/pic.php?pid=1471
and
http://www.bridgemeister.com/pic.php?pid=1884

as well as coordinates for the original and current location.


What a neat structure! Too bad it was removed from the original location.

Any one wanting pictures of a similar bridge should look at the Delaware river bridge at Riegelsville, PA; it is a Robling bridge w/ similar structure...it used to have a wooden floor but the DRBC replaced it w/ steel grid...

It's one of (2) roebling bridges over the river, the other was the D & H canal bridge by Zane Grey's home.