Jersey Bridge (Cherrytree Township, Pennsylvania)
The Jersey Bridge is a one-lane, Pratt through truss bridge that spans Oil Creek in Cherrytree Township, Pennsylvania. It connects the city of Titusville to the Drake Well Museum and Oil Creek State Park. The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. It was replaced in 1998 with a newer bridge that used the superstructure of the old bridge.
History
The Jersey Bridge was constructed in 1882 by the Morse Bridge Company, the predecessor to American Bridge Company.The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation instituted a weight limit for the bridge due to its deteriorating condition in 1979. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 22, 1988. The bridge was replaced in 1997 to meet safety requirements from PennDOT, as well as to allow tour buses heading to the nearby Drake Well Museum.
The replacement of the bridge, on the only route to and from museum, forced the museum to close on November 2, 1997. The museum was able to reopen in April 1998 after an agreement with the Oil Creek and Titusville Railroad, which operates a train station at the museum, to transport tourists from Titusville to Drake Well. The refurbished Jersey Bridge was reopened on May 27, 1998.