Spring Garden Street Bridge

Spring Garden Street Bridge
The Spring Garden Street Bridge (July 2010), with the West River Drive Bridge crossing beneath it and Fairmount Dam in the background.
Crosses	Schuylkill River
Locale	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
History
Designer	Richard Wisniewski
Opened	1965
Spring Garden Street Bridge Location in Philadelphia Show map of Philadelphia Spring Garden Street Bridge Location in Philadelphia Show map of Pennsylvania Spring Garden Street Bridge Location in Philadelphia Show map of the US

Spring Garden Street Bridge is a highway bridge in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, that crosses the Schuylkill River below Fairmount Dam. It connects West Philadelphia to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Benjamin Franklin Parkway. It is the fourth bridge at this location.

The bridge is located at 39°57′52″N 75°11′00″W / 39.96444°N 75.18333°W / 39.96444; -75.18333Coordinates: 39°57′52″N 75°11′00″W / 39.96444°N 75.18333°W / 39.96444; -75.18333.

As early as 1693, a ferry operated, crossing the Schuylkill River at Fairmount, the hill on which the Philadelphia Museum of Art now stands. Being upstream of the others, this was called the Upper Ferry.

For the Upper Ferry site, bridgebuilder Louis Wernwag designed "The Colossus", the longest single-span wooden bridge in the United States. Construction began in April 1812, and it opened on January 7, 1813. A double-arched-truss with a clear span of 340 feet (103.6 m), it was a marvel of engineering for its time. Also called the "Colossus of Fairmount", the "Upper Ferry Bridge", and the "Lancaster Schuylkill Bridge", the tollbridge was part of the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike. It was destroyed by fire September 1, 1838.