Other Stuff

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Rockville Stone Arch Bridge



The Rockville stone arch bridge was built between 1900 and 1901 and is located over the Susquehanna River and North Front Street north of Harrisburg, PA. It was registered with the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. When it was built it was the longest "stone masonry arch railroad viaduct" in the world. With 48 seventy foot arches it spanned a total length of 3,820 feet. Originally built in 1849 by the Pennsylvania Railroad, it was, also, later used by the Northern Central Railway (their original bridge was up river a short distance). The new bridge was built by two contractors, one building from the east and one building from the west. This bridge carries Norfolk Southern and Amtrak trains now.
While walking around it from the east side along North Front Street you can see that the bridge has been here so long that it is turning into a man-made cave. Many stalactites hang from the ceiling and the river side of the road overpass has an area of 'cave bacon' a form of stalagmite caused by water dripping through the rock and depositing minerals over a long period of time.

No comments:

Post a Comment