Increased automobile traffic beginning in the 1920s soon taxed
the capacity of the ferries that long had crossed the Delaware River. In 1945, Delaware,
New Jersey, and the United States government agreed to build a bridge across the river.
Construction of a suspension bridge from Pigeon Point, Delaware, to Deepwater, New Jersey
began three years later. The first span of the Delaware Memorial Bridge opened in August
1951. As America’s love affair with the automobile continued, a second span became
necessary. The second span, similar but not identical to the first, opened in September
1968. The bridge serves as a memorial to members of the armed forces from Delaware and New
Jersey who died in World War II, the Korean War, and Vietnam. The bridge is 2,150 feet long
and is the world’s longest twin-span bridge. (Just click on each
picture for a closer view)
