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Lower Trenton-Morrisville Bridge

This four-lane, five-span camelback truss bridge carries Highway 1 over the Delaware River, connecting Trenton, NJ and Morrisville, PA. Also known as the "Lower Free Bridge", it was designed by Lousi Focht. The bridge is perhaps most notable for large letters on the eastern side stating, Trenton Makes, The World Takes, which is readily visibile from the main Highway 1 toll bridge and from Amtrak and SEPTA trains traveling to Philadelphia on the Northeast corridor line and harkens back to a time when Trenton was a major manufacturing city.

A historic marker near the bridge on the south bank indicates that this was the site of a ferry crossing as early as 1675. A timber arch toll bridge opened to traffic in 1806 and was joined in 1851 by a railroad bridge constructed by the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad Company. An iron bridge replaced the wood bridge in 1876. This structure, the third at the site, replaced the iron bridge and opened to traffic on January 19, 1929.

Ironically, this bridge was constructed by the "Joint Commission for the Elimination of Toll Bridges Across The Delaware River" reflecting an ethos of public works that is no longer embodied in the newer toll bridge to the east that has replaced this bridge as the main Highway 1 river crossing.

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