St. Georges Bridge (Delaware)

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St. Georges Bridge
Carries	4 lanes of US 13
Crosses	Chesapeake & Delaware Canal
Locale	St. Georges, Delaware
Maintained by	U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Design	Tied arch bridge
Opening date	1940

The St. Georges Bridge is a steel truss bridge that carries U.S. Route 13 across the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal in St. Georges, Delaware. Built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and opened in 1940 as a high-level crossing, both as a result in the collision of a previous vertical lift bridge and a passing German merchant ship, the bridge was the first four-lane, high-level crossing to span the canal.

Prior to the opening of the paralleling Delaware Rt. 1 Turnpike and the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Bridge in 1995 (renamed the Senator William V. Roth, Jr. Bridge), the bridge was the main north-south crossing in Delaware, as such, suffered from a deteriorating concrete deck and support beams that forced both the Delaware Department of Transportation and the Army Corps of Engineers to place a weight restriction and forced all through truck traffic onto the paralleling Summit Bridge (U.S. Route 301), seven miles to the west. The late U.S. Senator Bill Roth, who saw the need for a new crossing, was a main proponent in securing federal funding for the new C & D Canal Bridge.

After the opening of the paralleling C & D Canal Bridge, the Army Corps of Engineers closed the St. Georges Bridge in anticipation of demolishing the structure, but local opposition, especially those residents in St. Georges, whose town spans both sides of the canal, would have to travel out of their way and pay a uncessary $1.00 toll to go from one half of the town to the other. Instead of tearing down the bridge, along with using data issued from the Delaware Department of Transportation and the U.S. Census Bureau, the Army Corps of Engineers between 1998 and 2001 rehabilitated the bridge with a new concrete deck, replaced deteriorated beams and joints, along with the replacement of the lead-based paint with a lead-free primer and salt-resistant enamel (as the C & D Canal, connects two rias, have from time to time been inudated with brackish water during dry spells) and was reopened to local traffic. As a result in the need to maintain quick access to both U.S. 13 and the Del. Rt. 1 Turnpike, both the St. Georges Bridge and the C & D Canal Bridge have no tolls, along with the Army Corps of Engineers allowing DelDOT to build a S. St. Georges interchange to U.S. 13 between the bridge and the Biddles Corner toll facility, with provisions to build another exit north of the bridge if needed. Prior to the mid-1990's, the St. Georges Bridge also served as the crossing for U.S. Route 301, but has since been shifted to the Summit Bridge along with Delaware Routes 71 and 896.