Delaware River Port Authority

The Delaware River was a lifeline for Pennsylvania and New Jersey colonists who relied on the waterway as their only supply route. By the time ferry service was launched between Camden and Philadelphia in 1688, residents on both sides of the river were already dreaming of a bridge crossing. Nearly 240 years later, the Delaware River Bridge Joint Commission, later known as the Delaware River Port Authority, made that dream a reality. Delaware River Port Authority explores the region’s early river transportation, failed plans for waterway crossings, and the stories behind the authority’s four unique bridges-the Benjamin Franklin, at the time the world’s longest single-span bridge; Walt Whitman, which caused a church-sponsored debate; Commodore Barry, the nation’s longest cantilever bridge at construction; and Betsy Ross, the nation’s second bridge named for a woman-as well as the groundbreaking PATCO Speedline.