Pennsylvania boasts 25,400 state-owned bridges and one of its longest happens to be right in our backyard, writes Rob Amend for AZ Animals.

The Commodore Barry Bridge over the Delaware River connects Chester with Bridgeport, New Jersey. Not only is it the state’s longest bridge, but it is also the fourth-largest cantilever bridge in the world.

It is named after Revolutionary War hero James Barry and it replaced the Chester-Bridgeport Ferry operating since 1930.

Construction started on April 14, 1969; and traffic first crossed on Feb. 1, 1974. 

On Feb. 2, 1978, a fire under the bridge on the Chester side caused 43 injuries among first responders.  The fire was at the Wade Dump, a tire recycling facility, and an illegal industrial waste disposal site.

It was later declared a Superfund cleanup site and today is a parking lot for Barry Bridge Park.

The Commodore Barry Bridge measures 13,912 feet from one abutment to the other. 

The Delaware County side has over 1,700 animals living beneath the bridge in various parks, wildlife preserves, green spaces, and waterways, including red fox, wild turkey, striped skunk, white-tail deer, American beaver, American mink, North American porcupine, groundhogs. Bullfrogs, garter snakes, and the red-tailed hawk.

Read more about the Commodore Barry Bridge at AZ Animals. 

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Painting the Commodore Barry and Walt Whitman bridges.

Editor’s Note: This post first appeared on MONTCO Today in March 2023.