The Riverton–Belvidere Bridge is a bridge crossing the Delaware River. It connects Belvidere, New Jersey with Riverton, Pennsylvania.
There is no toll for crossing on either side, after tolls were abolished by the Joint Commission for the Elimination of Toll Bridges in 1929. The bridge is long, holding a load of of traffic from County Route 620 Spur (Water Street) in Belvidere to former Pennsylvania Route 709 on the Riverton side. The bridge was first constructed in 1836, replacing the local ferry across the river. The board of freeholders in Warren County supported the replacement of the ferry with a bridge for safety of passengers. In 1832, the state created the Belvidere Delaware Bridge Company, which was funded with the job of building a bridge from Riverton to Belvidere. The new covered bridge was built by Solon Chapin, a contractor from Easton, Pennsylvania. The bridge survived two large storms in 1836 and 1841, although sustained major damage both times. In 1903, the floods that destroyed bridges along the Delaware River Valley, including taking out the entire covered structure at Riverton and Belvidere. They rebuilt the structure in 1904, using steel instead of wood, and the new span has remained since, with rehabilitations at certain points.
History
The first bridge (1836–1903)
Original reports indicate that a ferry, operated by a doctor who went by "Dr. Belvidere", once ran along the alignment of the Riverton–Belvidere Bridge. This ferry, crossing one of the most dangerous parts of the Delaware, was reported to have opened as early as 1802. On May 17, 1825, the Board of Chosen Freeholders of the ferry permitted raising the rate to cross the river via ferry. However, by 1832, the ferry crossing was becoming dangerously busy, and required a bridge be constructed in its place. That year, the Belvidere Delaware Bridge Company was established by both the states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. However, in constructing the bridge, the company was only allowed $20,000 (1832 USD) to construct the bridge. The bridge company had the designs for the bridge run by Solon Chapin, a contractor from Easton, Pennsylvania. Chapin was also the construction contractor on the nearby Riegelsville Bridge as well.
Although things seemed to start off smoothly, when construction began on the bridge in 1834, things went downhill. The bridge was constructed fast, and when completed in the spring of 1836, it was a wooden covered bridge at a length of . Within days of opening the bridge, on April 9, 1836, a storm blew through the valley, destroying two of the bridge's three piers and rendered the new bridge unusable. After restarting construction later, the bridge was redone using the same piers and in 1839, was completed and opened once again. However, in January 1841, another storm, dubbed the Bridges Freshet of January 1841, blew through the valley, destroying most of the bridges in the area, and causing major damage to the structure from Riverton to Belvidere. However, this time, the bridge survived the storm. A local historian stated that because of the constant repairwork on the bridge itself, the bridge company had never paid one dividend of money to its stockholders. Although, after society on both sides of the bridge began to live life with it, money started flowing into the accounts of the stockholders.
In 1903, the demise of wooden covered bridge would be seen, as a storm, dubbed the Pumpkin Flood of 1903, struck in October of that year. The storm struck both communities, and the bridge in between, causing the loss of many lives, and on October 17, the toll collector on the bridge closed off the gate and did not allow any person to cross. At 6:40 that evening, a crash was heard, and seconds later, the bridge was no more, after tumbling into the Delaware River below. Remnants of the bridge were swept downstream, and smashed on the side of the new Northampton Street Bridge, constructed just a few years before. After the storm cleared, the community of Belvidere put a ferry to Riverton back in almost immediately.
Construction of the current bridge (1904)