Calhoun Street Bridge

The Calhoun Street Bridge is an historic multi-span truss bridge over the Delaware River between Morrisville, Pennsylvania and Trenton, New Jersey. The bridge opened in 1884 and is one of the oldest bridges on the Delaware River still in service.

Like the two other bridges that connect Morrisville and Trenton, the Lower Trenton Bridge and the Trenton-Morrisville Toll Bridge, there is no fixed main span length as all seven truss spans are of equal length. The total length of the bridge is 1,274 feet from end to end. Also like the Lower Trenton Bridge, the Calhoun Street Bridge does not have a fixed width, but for a different reason. The bridge deck is a steel open grating, which is usually reserved for moveable bridges. However, earlier truss bridges were designed with this grating to allow floodwaters to drain straight through, before bridge drain systems became popular. As such, it is nearly impossible to measure the width of a steel grid deck, because the measurements would vary depending on exactly where you started.

The Calhoun Street Bridge is currently posted at a 3 ton weight limit, therefore restricting its use to cars and other lightweight vehicles. In addition, the truss structure adds a height limit of 8 feet, lower than the Lower Trenton Bridge at just over 12 feet. Therefore, the only bridge between Trenton and Morrisville that allows full truck passage is the Trenton-Morrisville Toll Bridge on US Route 1.

The Calhoun Street Bridge is a free bridge. It is the second bridge upstream on the Delaware to offer free passage, after the Lower Trenton Bridge. All bridges downstream of the Lower Trenton Bridge are tolled.

The Calhoun Street Bridge was closed to all traffic from May 24th until October 2nd, 2010 for a massive rehabilitation project. During this project, the entire steel grating was replaced, a yellow stripe was painted down the middle of the grating, and extra weight and height limit warning signs were installed at each end. Additionally, the existing sidewalk was repaired and a new sidewalk was added on the other side of the bridge.