By: Michelle Jones, Follow South Jersey Community Journalist
SALEM, N.J. – Salem City, settled in the late 1600s, was one of the building block communities of our nation. The community, settled on Quaker principles, innovation, and industrialization, was still separated from major metropolitan cities except by train or ferry.
That all started to change in 1949 with the beginning of the construction of what we know today as the Delaware Memorial Bridge.
Prior to the invention of the automobile, transportation to and through Salem largely depended on horse and buggy, train, trolley, or ferry. Cars had, in fact, been invented and sold as early as 1896, but they were far from the most popular forms of transport. This is until 1920, when they became available for purchase to the average American.
By the 1920s cars and roadways were becoming more efficient and common making travel easier. This meant people could travel to work independent of a public system, and could travel farther distances for employment. Highways became a new means of travel. Plans for an American interstate system of paved roads was underway, but significantly delayed due to the Great Depression.
By the late 30s and 40s, paved road construction was well underway and that included the engineering feat of large expansion bridges made of steel and concrete. The first bridge constructed in the country was the Frankfurt Avenue bridge in Pennsylvania built in1693 over Penny Pack Creek. It was of large stones and arched construction connecting William Penn’s home to the center of Philadelphia.
Within 250 years engineers wanted or needed to design bridges that could span long distances and carry considerable weight. With the production of steel these engineering feats were plausible. These bridges began to connect small rural communities to larger cities, opened up employment options that otherwise would have been much more difficult to traverse, and allowed swelling cities to expand further or create new communities all together. The Delaware Memorial Bridge was constructed using over 70,000 cubic yards of concrete and well over 30,000 tons of steel between the two spans.
Due to the opening of the first span in 1951 and second in 1969, Salem City was no different. With the construction of the Delaware Memorial Bridge, residents of Salem County could easily cross the Delaware Bay in 3 mins and 20 seconds going 45 miles per hour. This made work commutes easy and accessible.
This innovation of transportation allowed for industry to expand on both sides of the bridge. Routes 45 and 49 now connected communities across the bay and north New Jersey bus routes became common. This allowed for glass and bottle manufacturing, canneries, retail spaces, and a large agricultural industry in Salem to flourish.
Today the Delaware Memorial Bridge consists of two spans. Approximately 100,000 vehicles cross the bridge on a daily basis.
As industry began to move out of Salem City, the bridges became a gateway for residents to work outside of the county while still enjoying the rural small feel of a beautiful historical town.
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