On this date: lighting up the Walnut Street Bridge

Aug 22, 2023

by: David Tristan

Posted: Aug 31, 2023 / 01:55 PM EDT

Updated: Aug 31, 2023 / 01:55 PM EDT

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) August 31, 1990 was a bright day in Harrisburg, and an even brighter night.

We watched workers attach the last of almost 5,000 lights to the 100-year-old Walnut Street Bridge.

The bridge became a symbol of the city’s resilience after it survived the worst flood in Susquehanna River history, during Hurricane Agnes in 1972. After the flood, it was closed to vehicular traffic and became a popular pedestrian walkway between the city, City Island, and the West Shore.

In January of 1996, severe flooding coupled with massive ice flows lifted up two 70-ton spans of the bridge and carried them south for several hundred yards to the Market Street Bridge. A third span collapsed into the river later. The spans have not been rebuilt.

In 1972, the bridge was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, and was named a national engineering landmark in 1998.

Name: *

E-mail: *

Phone/WhatsApp: *

Subject: *

Content: *

Send to us