Crosses Wissahickon Creek Height 170 feet (52 m) Opened May 1932 Width 18 m Construction cost 1.649 million USD | Maintained by City of Philadelphia Longest span 288 feet (88 m) Total length 102 m Body of water Wissahickon Creek | |
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Locale Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Location Henry Avenue over Wissahickon Creek and Lincoln Drive
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Address Philadelphia, PA 19128, USA Architects Paul Philippe Cret, Ralph Modjeski Similar Wissahickon Creek, Walnut Lane Bridge, Wissahickon Valley Park, University Avenue Bridge, Blue Stone Bridge | ||
Wissahickon memorial bridge 360 sky
The Wissahickon Memorial Bridge, originally called and still also known as the Henry Avenue Bridge, is a stone and concrete bridge that carries Henry Avenue over Wissahickon Creek and Lincoln Drive in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
It is a two-ribbed, open-spandrel, reinforced concrete arch bridge with one principal span. It was designed in 1927 by Paul Philippe Cret, a nationally acclaimed Philadelphia architect, in collaboration with Frank M. Masters, engineered by Ralph Modjeski and Clement E. Chase. It was completed in May 1932 at a cost of $1,648,775. It was designed to accommodate a lower deck, never constructed, to be used by trolleys or a subway extension to Roxborough. Shortly after its completion, it was renamed the Wissahickon Memorial Bridge and was dedicated to the people of Philadelphia's northwest neighborhoods who served in World War I.
The bridge is 333 feet long, with a main span of 288 feet. Its 60-ft-wide roadway carries two lanes of traffic in each direction. The roadway is approximately 170 feet above the ground. The bridge was repaved and repaired between 2008 and late 2010.
The bridge has been known as a suicide bridge since its opening. Beginning in 1941 for an unknown duration of time a policeman patrolled the span, questioning all pedestrians walking the bridge.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.