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"Trenton Makes"


TrentonMakes

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On my ride yesterday I made another trip to the bridge in my avatar.  It's an unassuming green steel truss bridge, built in 1928 - though the first bridge at this site was built in 1806 and was the first bridge built across the Delaware River (which I had forgotten until I reread the Wiki this morning).  It's also part of the Lincoln Highway, and used to carry US Route 1 until that was reassigned to a parallel expressway - I was standing in the shadow of that expressway bridge when I took this.

 

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Closeup of the letters, which were first installed in 1935.  "The World Takes, Trenton Makes" was the winning slogan from a 1910 Chamber of Commerce contest. The neon-illuminated letters have been replaced a few times over the years, most recently in 2005 - my experience with them at that time was that at night, the letters often read something like " RENTO    MA ES" and I was hoping they'd switch to LEDs but neon won again.  This iteration seems to be more reliable but still faulty at times.

 

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Behind the scenes - couldn't safely get closer as there's no walkway on the other side.  The Trenton Makes bridge is the southernmost free auto crossing of the Delaware River - the six bridges to the south all hit you for a one-way toll from $2 - $5.  However, it was initially operated by a private company and was a toll bridge until 1918.

 

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Gratuiutous selfie

 

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The Trenton "skyline", marred by a couple ugly-as-hell government buildings.  I probably don't need to say that Trenton is a shadow of its former glory - maybe it will be back.  You can see the Route 29 expressway that restricts access to Trenton's primary resource, the Delaware - in discussion are plans to realign this road as a parkway to reopen the riverfront to more than just "driving fast".

 

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Hard to see them but there are several hundred seagulls hanging out on the rocks.  The levee protecting the borough of Morrisville, PA is just visible at the left, and you can also see the next bridge to the north at Calhoun Street.  The Delaware River is still influenced by tides as far north as Trenton.

 

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It was a simply magnificent day for a ride - this was on the road from Newtown to Washington Crossing, PA on my way back home.

 

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Your frame pump has all the appearance of a Topeak Road Morph.  If so then you are a gentleman, a scholar, and a excellent judge of fine frame pumps. :nod head:

Actually that is a full sized floor pump strapped under there.  It is just that the freakishly large frame makes it hard to judge scale.

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Your frame pump has all the appearance of a Topeak Road Morph.  If so then you are a gentleman, a scholar, and a excellent judge of fine frame pumps. :nod head:

 

I'm not often called a gentleman or a scholar, so it pains me to have to say it's a Blackburn pump.

 

Those are 27-inch wheels.  Given that, does the bike look bigger or smaller?  ;)

 

Perhaps one of these days I'll post a photo of myself on the bike.  

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