Bridge (Steel) - Juniata River

STEEL BRIDGE: The fifth bridge and current steel structure was constructed in 1937. (Length: 1,087 ft. Main Span: 223 ft. Roadway: 23 ft. Main Spans: 4) During the late spring and summer the Highway Department Engineers made three distinct surveys of probable sites for the new bridge; one on Milford Street, one on Market Street and one on Tuscarora Street. The highway Department decided to use the old site of the covered bridge and immediately appropriated the necessary funds. Then, after further discussion with the Town Council and the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, the Market Street site was selected because it eliminated two very dangerous curves and a very steep approach.

The 4-span, 1087 foot long bridge, built in 1937, is composed of four Parker thru truss spans over the river, measuring approximately 222'-long each, a steel thru girder span over the street, and two steel stringer and a reinforced concrete slab approach spans. The deck was replaced in 1975 and the slab span replaced a steel stringer span in 1982. The rivet-connected trusses are composed of standard built-up chords and rolled steel section verticals and diagonals. The bridge is a late and undistinguished example of a truss design developed in the 1870s and used by the state highway department as a standard beginning in the 1920s. It has no noteworthy details. More than 75 examples from the 1920s to 1940s have been identified [though many have since been demolished]. The bridge is not distinguished by its setting, nor is it significant in association with the development of Port Royal. The town grew in association with the railroad as a local commercial and transportation center for the countryside from the late 1840s to about 1910.