Focus Crosses to New Center

WASHINGTON CROSSING, Pa. -- As debate continues in Bucks County over status of the Washington Crossing Bridge, talk on the other side of the Delaware River centers on replacement of an aging visitor’s center marking a “critical moment.”

The National Park Service soon is to issue a $7.53 million grant financing the cost of replacing the nearly half-century-old Washington Crossing State Park Visitor Center in Hopewell, NJ. The State of New Jersey is to put up another $7.5 million for the project estimated to be complete in time for the nation’s 250^th anniversary in 2026.

“George Wahington’s famous crossing of the Delaware River on Christmas 1776 and subsequent surprise attack on Hessian forces in Trenton was a critical moment in our nation’s fight for independence,” said U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman.

The existing center, built 48 years ago for the county’s Bicentennial in 1976, will stay in use until the new facility is completed.

Meanwhile, the toll-supported Washington Crossing Bride for the past two weeks ending Sept. 13 has been reduced to an alternating single lane of travel during off-peak hours. Flaggers have been on the span to monitor traffic flow..

The action begins the start of a years-long process to determine how best to address safety concerns with the narrow119-year-old steel structure that handles 7,200 vehicles daily. Data compiled will be examined and could ultimately lead to rehabilitation or rebuilding of the bridge.

Upper Makefield Township officials, along with other elected officials and local residents, have expressed fear over changes to the historic structure.

Said the Bridge Commission: ‘The detailed inspections will be integral to determine what future course of action the Commission might take with the 119-yeaer-old narrow, operationally challenged steel superstructure and its 190-year-old rubble-filled masonry pieces built on wooden-crib foundation.”

(What do you think George would say about this. Send me your thoughts.)

Talk on the other side is about a new visitor center.Photo byMariia ChukhriionUnsplash