Commodore Barry Bridge

The Commodore Barry Bridge is a cantilever bridge that spans the Delaware River from Chester, Pennsylvania to Bridgeport, in Logan Township, New Jersey, USA. It is named after the American Revolutionary War hero and Philadelphia resident John Barry.

Along with the Betsy Ross Bridge, the Benjamin Franklin Bridge and the Walt Whitman Bridge, the Commodore Barry Bridge is one of the four toll bridges connecting the metropolitan Philadelphia region with southern New Jersey owned by the Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA). Both the DRPA and the PennDOT are in the process of building two new exit ramps that will allow motorists to access the Chester Waterfront (via Pennsylvania Route 291) from I-95. Additionally, a deck joint replacement project began in May 2008 with expected completion in 7 months.

Construction of the bridge began on April 14, 1969, and it opened to traffic on February 1, 1974. It has a total length of 13,912 feet (4,240 m), and a main span of 1,644 feet (501 m), making the bridge the fourth longest cantilever bridge in the World, and the longest in the United States. The road has a total of five lanes, divided by a zipper barrier, in which a machine can configure the number of lanes in each direction, depending upon traffic volume or construction. The bridge is designated as part of U.S. Route 322 and has direct connections with U.S. Route 13 and Interstate 95 in Chester and U.S. Route 130 in Bridgeport, with a connection to Interstate 295 and the New Jersey Turnpike within a 5-mile (8.0 km) radius of the bridge. It replaced the earlier Chester-Bridgeport ferry service which ceased operation on January 31, 1974.