“Welcome to Marysville, Home of the Rockville Bridge.” Opening on March 30, 1902, the Rockville Bridge was the most important and expensive undertaking of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and is the longest stone masonry arch railroad viaduct ever built.
The Rockville Bridge is the successor to two previous bridges in the same location. The first was a single-track wooden bridge, completed in 1849. In 1877 the original bridge was replaced by a double-track iron bridge due to the enormous traffic being handled. In the 1900’s the current Rockville Bridge was built in an effort by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company to provide more durable structures along its rail lines. Resembling the aqueducts of the Roman Empire, the Rockville Bridge is truly a spectacle to behold. Spanning 3,380 fee, or nearly nine and a half football fields, it boasts forty-eight arches of seventy-foot span each. The bridge is concrete to the core and surrounded by sandstone mined in Clearfield County. As many as 300 stonemasons, many of them Italian immigrants who relocated from Curwensville in Clearfield County, worked on the sandstone rock façade, perhaps the major aesthetic appeal of the landmark.
The construction of the bridge took nearly two years. The design of the arch was ideal for carrying heavy loads over large spans. Throughout its more than one-hundred year history, the Rockville Bridge has proven to be durable and reliable.
Control of the bridge passed to Penn Central after the PRR merger in 1968, then to Conrail and finally the Norfolk Southern. The bridge started with four main line tracks but over the years has been reduced to two main line tracks, leaving a buffer zone on either side to prevent containers from ending up in the river.
The Rockville Bridge is a historical symbol and reminder of the economic boom that was driven by the railroad. Nearly 110 years after its completion, the Rockville Bridge continues to be a serviceable and durable bridge to this day. The Rockville Bridge, said to be “built to last forever,” hasn’t let us down yet.
Today, the bridge is used by the Norfolk Southern Railway and Amtrak
