Uhlerstown-Frenchtown Bridge
| Uhlerstown–Frenchtown Bridge | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Carries |
 PA 32 and  Route 12
|
| Crosses | Delaware River |
| Locale | Frenchtown, New Jersey and Uhlerstown, Pennsylvania |
| Maintained by | Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Six span Warren truss |
| Load limit | 5 tons |
| Clearance above | 12'-6" |
| Statistics | |
| Toll | None |
The Uhlerstown–Frenchtown Bridge is a free bridge over the Delaware River, owned and operated by the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission. The bridge carries Bridge Street, connecting New Jersey Route 12 in Frenchtown, Hunterdon County, New Jersey, with Pennsylvania Route 32 in Uhlerstown, located in Tinicum Township, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States.
The existing bridge has a roadway width of 16 feet 6 inches. A pedestrian walkway is supported on steel cantilever brackets. The bridge maintains a fifteen-mile per hour speed limit.
The community known as Frenchtown, New Jersey, was once intended to be called Alexandria, after one of its original owners and developers. The land was sold in 1776 to one Thomas Lowrey, a speculator from nearby Flemington who built a gristmill and a sawmill. Eventually it took its name in honor of Paul Henri Mallet-Prevost, a Swiss fugitive from the French Revolution who purchased the land in 1794. Mallet-Prevost spoke French and the town became known as French's Town, then Frenchtown. The settlement across the river in Pennsylvania was at that time called Mexico although, it would change its name in 1871 in honor of its first postmaster, Michael Uhler, a significant figure in the commercial and industrial development of the town. In 1829, construction began on the Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania Canal which ran from Easton, Pennsylvania south to Bristol, Pennsylvania. The canal closely paralleled the river, running through Mexico and supporting commerce well on the Pennsylvania side of the river. On the opposite shore, by 1855, the Belvidere and Delaware Railroad would allow fast transportation north and south between Trenton, New Jersey and Belvidere, New Jersey, north of Phillipsburg. But since at least 1690, transportation east-west across the Delaware had been served by ferries. Both towns were developing in manufacturing and commerce and would soon outgrow the capacity of a ferry service. By 1840 plans were being made to construct a bridge across the river and the Alexandria Bridge Company was soon established.
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