I've got this photo of a bridge that I believe is on the New Jersey turnpike taken in 1958 that I'd like to identify:
(https://i.ibb.co/JrDVK7X/LAF3405-Turnpike-Tiny.jpg)
Here is detail of the building signage:
(https://i.ibb.co/5hbP1wK/LAF3405-Turnpike-Building-Sign.jpg)
Which appears to read:
- Bristol Yards / Frankford Supply Company Inc
But they appear to no longer exist.
Here is detail of the highway signs:
(https://i.ibb.co/3SvBwbp/LAF3405-Turnpike-Road-Signs.jpg)
Which appears to read:
- Drive Slow (light up sign?) and illegible
- Maximum Speed 50 (hard to read)
This photo was taken enroute to the York Motel on Lincoln Tunnel Road in North Bergen New Jersey on way to the Lincoln Tunnel entrance to NYC.
Newark Bay Extension. I-78.
This looks like the PA/NJ Turnpike Bridge crossing from the PA Turnpike onto the NJ Turnpike. You're actually still in PA.
Present day view:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/v6zZZeP9Ada3F9wQ8
The car on the road below looks like it would be on Wood Ave. in Bristol, PA. In the first image above, the roadway flairs out, which would be due to the former toll plaza at the base of the bridge. And that building you identified there is now blue.
The bridge was formerly 6 lanes wide. It's now 4 lanes wide with a center barrier and right shoulders.
It does indeed look to be the PA/NJ Turnpike Bridge over the Delaware, though that would not have been my first guess. I was not aware that bridge once had the same variable lane use control seen on other bridges downstream!
The surroundings match, though.
- Bristol Yards/Frankford Supply Co. may no longer exist, but that building with the curved roof next to the bridge still stands with a different paint job (https://www.google.com/maps/@40.1208177,-74.8421373,3a,46.3y,110.64h,86.56t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sSGg5rho0MMtxZdTs8w88oA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192).
- The transition from under-deck girder to under-deck truss to finally the arch matches, even if the bridge is now painted green instead of blue.
- To the right in the 1958 photo you can see two tall metal structures that support the connection of electric transmission lines into a substation, and between them there is a railroad signal tower. These things are also still there, (https://www.google.com/maps/@40.1184777,-74.8388039,3a,38.2y,287.76h,95.75t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sntGqOQ5BMH5SLQTf3xPV6w!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DntGqOQ5BMH5SLQTf3xPV6w%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D346.44528%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656) albeit the trees in the foreground have since grown much larger and thus obscured them from the location the photo was taken.
Quote from: Duke87 on September 08, 2019, 08:01:51 PM
It does indeed look to be the PA/NJ Turnpike Bridge over the Delaware, though that would not have been my first guess. I was not aware that bridge once had the same variable lane use control seen on other bridges downstream!
The surroundings match, though.
- Bristol Yards/Frankford Supply Co. may no longer exist, but that building with the curved roof next to the bridge still stands with a different paint job (https://www.google.com/maps/@40.1208177,-74.8421373,3a,46.3y,110.64h,86.56t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sSGg5rho0MMtxZdTs8w88oA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192).
- The transition from under-deck girder to under-deck truss to finally the arch matches, even if the bridge is now painted green instead of blue.
- To the right in the 1958 photo you can see two tall metal structures that support the connection of electric transmission lines into a substation, and between them there is a railroad signal tower. These things are also still there, (https://www.google.com/maps/@40.1184777,-74.8388039,3a,38.2y,287.76h,95.75t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sntGqOQ5BMH5SLQTf3xPV6w!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DntGqOQ5BMH5SLQTf3xPV6w%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D346.44528%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656) albeit the trees in the foreground have since grown much larger and thus obscured them from the location the photo was taken.
That is definitely it.... It looked too empty to me until you pointed out that substation
Quote from: Duke87 on September 08, 2019, 08:01:51 PM
It does indeed look to be the PA/NJ Turnpike Bridge over the Delaware, though that would not have been my first guess. I was not aware that bridge once had the same variable lane use control seen on other bridges downstream!
It did when I lived in the area in the 1970s. Six lanes with overhead lane control signals just like on that photo.
The overhead power supply wires of the NE Corridor are visible in the said photo, so it is from the PA side of the Delaware River Turnpike Bridge as the corridor does pass beneath the approach there.