Excerpt:
The University Avenue Bridge, an impressive adaptation of modern classicism to a limestone-faced, concrete on steel double leaf bascule bridge, carries university Avenue across the Schuylkill River. Its sweeping monumental piers and towers with bridge operator's houses remain visible from many vantage points. This graceful span forms an integral part of its surrounding cityscape, and serves as a visual landmark along the Schuylkill River.
The University Avenue Bridge runs north/south across the Schuylkill River, and links University Avenue in West Philadelphia, with South 34th Street in the Grays Ferry section of South Philadelphia. The bridge which has a clear height of thirty feet, measures 536 feet in length, and 100 feet in width. Five lanes wide, it accommodates four lanes of traffic going in two directions. The bridge has a pedestrian walkway on either side.
Annotation:
In a nomination for the National Register, Michael J. Steffe offers a description and photographs of the this limestone-faced, concrete-on-steel, double-leaf bascule bridge. His brief painstakingly describes the revolutionary technical aspects of Paul Philippe Cret's bridge, as well as an extensive biography of Cret and an outline of his other Philadelphia work. Steffe's nomination paper is an invaluable resource to anyone looking for information on Cret.