Summit Bridge

This article is about the bridge. For the community, see Summit Bridge, Delaware.

Summit Bridge
View of the bridge from the ground
Coordinates	39.540786°N 75.738544°W / 39.540786; -75.738544
Carries	4 lanes of US 301 / DE 71 / DE 896 and Delaware Bicycle Route 1
Crosses	Chesapeake & Delaware Canal
Locale	Summit Bridge, Delaware
Maintained by	U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Characteristics
Design	Cantilever truss bridge
History
Opened	1960
Location

The Summit Bridge carries U.S. Route 301 and Delaware Routes 71 and 896 across the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal, connecting Newark, Delaware with Dover, Delaware (via Delaware Rt. 71) and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge (via U.S. Rt. 301). The bridge also carries Delaware Bicycle Route 1, a bicycle route that spans the length of the state of Delaware, across the canal. Opened in 1961, the Summit Bridge was the second four-lane high-level crossing in Delaware and was designed for a future upgrade of U.S. Rt. 301 to a four-lane limited access toll road connecting the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and the Delaware Turnpike (I-95), but such plans have been shelved by both the Maryland and Delaware Departments of Transportation (it has since been resurrected by DelDOT as a realignment of US 301 connecting Maryland and Delaware Route 1 near the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Bridge). The current bridge replaces a former swing span structure that was demolished when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers rerouted the canal to a new sea-level channel south of Lums Pond State Park. A construction project on the approaches to the bridge was completed in Fall of 2012.

See also

• Delaware portal
• List of crossings of the Cheasapeake & Delaware Canal

External links

• Media related to Summit Bridge at Wikimedia Commons