Summit Bridge

{{about|the bridge|the community|Summit Bridge, Delaware}}

{{Use American English|date=February 2025}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}

{{Infobox Bridge

|bridge_name= Summit Bridge

|image=Summit Bridge, April 2021.jpg

|image_size=300px

|caption=View of the bridge in April 2021

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|carries= {{plainlist|*4 lanes of {{jct|state=DE|DE|71|DE|896|SBR|1}}}}

|crosses= Chesapeake & Delaware Canal

|locale= Summit Bridge, Delaware

|maint= U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

|id=

|design= Cantilever truss bridge

|mainspan=

|length=

|width=

|clearance= 135'

|below=

|traffic=

|open= January 9, 1960

|closed=

|toll=

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|coordinates= {{coord|39.540786|-75.738544|type:landmark}}

|lat=

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}}

The Summit Bridge carries Delaware Routes 71 and 896 across the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal. The bridge also carries Delaware Bicycle Route 1, a bicycle route that spans the length of the state of Delaware, across the canal. The Summit Bridge opened to traffic on January 9, 1960, replacing a lift bridge. Before the bridge opened to traffic, a dedication ceremony was held, with U.S. Senator J. Allen Frear Jr. in attendance.{{cite news|title=New Year-And New Bridge Over The Canal|work=Newark Post|date=January 7, 1960|page=1}} The Summit Bridge was the second four-lane high-level crossing in Delaware and was designed to carry an eventual US 301 freeway, however that planned freeway was never built on the alignment utilizing the Summit Bridge. US 301 did use the bridge when it was routed along surface roads from 1961 to 2019, at which time it was rerouted onto a new toll freeway. The current bridge replaces a former swing span structure that was demolished when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers rerouted the canal to a new sea-level channel south of Lums Pond State Park. A construction project on the approaches to the bridge was completed in Fall of 2012.