US-22 Phillipsburg-Easton Bridge work

[Interstatefan78]

Saw the DRJTBC website on the Easton-Phillipsburg bridge rehab and it states that it will go through 2014 and end in the spring of 2015. Currently the VMS signs advise using I-78 toll bridge to avoid US-22 bridge delays.
http://www.drjtbc.org/default.aspx?pageid=2326

[Some_Person]

The DRJTBC has been good with their work, they're just finishing the repavement of their PA portion of I-78, and it was done pretty fast. Now they're already on this, it's too bad widening 22 near Allentown won't get finished (or even started!) that fast.

[_Simon]

I guess they have no intention of straightening out the very abrupt jog just before the bridge on the PA side.  Interestingly enough, I was looking at why the jog exists, and it seems that (as the DRJTBC article says), this bridge connected to Bushkill St, which made an almost immediate intersection with PA-611 which at the time was a straight line.  The only problem is that historicaerials doesn't go back that far!  I was fully expecting to see the current interchange revert to a grade crossing by at the earlies 1969 but the configuration there today dates back to at least 1951.  Pennsylvania never ceases to surprise me -- many things I assumed were reworkings have turned out to be original 50's designs. 

[Alps]

I guess they have no intention of straightening out the very abrupt jog just before the bridge on the PA side.  Interestingly enough, I was looking at why the jog exists, and it seems that (as the DRJTBC article says), this bridge connected to Bushkill St, which made an almost immediate intersection with PA-611 which at the time was a straight line.  The only problem is that historicaerials doesn't go back that far!  I was fully expecting to see the current interchange revert to a grade crossing by at the earlies 1969 but the configuration there today dates back to at least 1951.  Pennsylvania never ceases to surprise me -- many things I assumed were reworkings have turned out to be original 50's designs. 

Hmm, so for at least some time, what is now PA 248 was in fact part of US 22. Now it's a question of when.

* 1955 is the earliest aerial with the bridge - not 1951
* 1931 shows the NJ side with no bridge approach, so no bridge
* 1942 and 1948 topo maps also show no bridge
* 1943 and 1953 topo maps show a bridge with a grade intersection at 22/611. No trace of route numbering, though.

Topo maps have proven to be unreliable in the past for dates of completion, and that's certainly the case here. The best answer I have is that the US 22 bridge was completed in the 1940s, and the interchange was constructed in the early 50s.

[SteveG1988]

The US22 bridge was completed in 1938

http://www.drjtbc.org/default.aspx?pageid=86

[NE2]

Topo maps have proven to be unreliable in the past for dates of completion, and that's certainly the case here. The best answer I have is that the US 22 bridge was completed in the 1940s, and the interchange was constructed in the early 50s.

http://uglybridges.com/pa/northampton/
1950 for the interchange. The 1950 official state map shows US 22 coming off the bridge and down Pearl-Prospect to Northampton, where US 22 Alternate ended. 1960 has it on the new freeway (1954 per NBI) around the curves, with no number on Pearl-Prospect, and PA 45 on Northampton.

[SignBridge]

Simon, I know that eastbound left curve onto the bridge existed circa 1958, when as a little kid I rode over it with my parents on a trip home from Penna. I was pleasantly surprised when I rode over it again in 1977 and again a few years ago, and it looked exactly as I remembered it from 1958.

[_Simon]

Wow!  Do you remember anything about the signage?  ... Anywhere in new jersey? 

[SignBridge]

Well, the signing along most major routes in NJ in the 1960's (when I was a teenager) was primitive by today's standards. Some call it "minimalist".  We took a trip in 1964 to Flemington, and I remember on westbound Route-22, at the split or turn for Route-202 in Bridgewater, there was an overhead butterfly sign, but I don't remember there being any advance signs; that butterfly was the first sign we saw for the turn to Flemington.

[roadman65]

You would think that imediate jog west of the bridge could be fixed and some of the ramps modernized as part of the project.

You may be right about PA 248 being US 22 before the Lehigh Valley Thruway as it lines up directly with the bridge.  It would certainly explain why PA 248 is there and not on Northhampton Street.

[_Simon]

I would kill for a photo of this part of US-22 signed as I-78 (and yes I've seen the "22 - 78" text-only suspiciously-reflective sign on the P'burg sign on broad street both online and in person when I was lil').

[roadman65]

I would kill for a photo of this part of US-22 signed as I-78 (and yes I've seen the "22 - 78" text-only suspiciously-reflective sign on the P'burg sign on broad street both online and in person when I was lil').

Back in 87 I saw a text version of 22-78 on PA 611.  This was long before I started to photograph roads, so all I have is simple memories!