There’s new hope the Lewes Swing Bridge will move out of the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal - maybe as early as next week.
The historic bridge was scheduled to be lifted out of the Canal and taken to its new home about a quarter mile up the road in December.
But that move was shelved at the last minute because the bridge turned out to be 32-tons heavier than anticipated.
“Again, I mean really having to work off of estimates because this bridge is more than 100-years-old and there’s just not a lot of documentation about how heavy the bridge actually was," said C.R. McLeod, DelDOT's director of community relations. "And with it still being attached at its anchor points, really a lot of estimates went into trying to come up with a reasonable number for what would be needed to lift the bridge out of the water.”
McLeod says this week, a new larger, 900-ton crane is being assembled on site, with hopes of getting the bridge up and out of the water.
He says safety and weather are factors in deciding on a moving day.
The goal remains to move the bridge to the end of American Legion Road where it meets the rail-trail bike path for display with interpretive areas detailing the historical significance of the railroad to the City of Lewes and Eastern Sussex County.
The Lewes Junction Railroad and Bridge Association is the organization behind preserving the structure at a cost of $2.2 million.
