I'm just curious.
Philadelphia, as far as I know, is the only major American city whose many bridges (except the Ben Franklin Bridge) are not decoratively lit at night. Is there, or has there ever been, any discussion on illuminating the Philly area bridges? (Walt Whitman, Commodore Barry, Delaware Memorial and Betsy Ross, etc.)
The commodore barry bridge would look spectacular if lit up properly at night. The superstructure would cast some interesting shadows on itself. Perhaps with the new stadium right at its western approach we may get the bridge lit up
I thought that the Ben Franklin was lit at night . . . Perhaps they stopped at some point?
The ben franklin is still lit i beleive, the delaware memorial bridge is lit with normal lights and is a decent sight from the commodore barry bridge.
The Ben Franklin is still lit, as the DRPA announced the November lighting schedule (http://www.drpa.org/content.asp?page=News¶m=2&pageID=3&ItemNumber=3959).
You know what amazes me, is the fact the Tacony Bridge is cheaper than the Betsy Ross, Ben Franklin, and Walt Whitman Bridges. We can thank Burlington County, NJ for that as they own that particular bridge, but you figure that the other administration who owns the others would balk, cause I am sure you have people who go out of there way to cross at the cheaper one and not make money off of these.
Burlington county bridge comission does a lot with a little, 3 major spans (one non toll across the rancocas creek) and the two main tolled river crossings, and a few bits of road.
The reason the other bridges have high tolls, they support other programs, DRPA Maintains the Commodore barry,Betsy Ross, Ben Franklin, and Walt Whitman Bridges, along with the ferry,the Patco high speed line, Also a cruise ship terminal. All of these bridges are some sort of freeway grade, even if one (franklin) has no true freeway connection in PA, and the other (betsy ross) just ends at a ramp stub. The betsy Ross loses to the tacony, from what i have read, the tacony does carry a good bit more cars per day than the newer span. 39,980 (In 2000) vs 50,000 (in 1999). The bristol bridge carrys about 23,662 (In 2005) as it is a rather minor span between the two states, it is mostly local traffic that does not want to deal with the turnpike bridge, and paying two tolls.