Delaware River Port Authority

Delaware River Port Authority

Company type	Interstate agency
Industry	Transportation
Founded	July 17, 1952 (1952-07-17)
Headquarters	Camden , United States
Area served	Delaware River between Pennsylvania and New Jersey
Products	Toll bridges, rapid transit (PATCO Speedline)

The Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA), formally known as the Delaware River Port Authority of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, is a bi-state organization established through a federally sanctioned interstate compact between the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. It is responsible for managing key transportation connections spanning the Delaware River, including four major bridges and a rapid transit rail line. Despite its title, the DRPA does not oversee any port operations.

History

In 1919, the legislatures of Pennsylvania and New Jersey created the Delaware River Joint Commission to supervise the construction of a vehicular bridge linking Philadelphia and Camden. This structure, originally called the Delaware River Bridge and now known as the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, was inaugurated on July 1, 1926. The Bridge Line rapid transit service commenced on June 7, 1936, utilizing the bridge’s lower deck and was operated by the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company under the Joint Commission’s authority.

The DRPA was established on July 17, 1952, when President Harry S. Truman signed legislation dissolving the Joint Commission and creating this new authority. Construction started in 1953 on a second bridge connecting South Philadelphia with Gloucester City. The original bridge was renamed Benjamin Franklin Bridge in 1955, while the newly built crossing opened in 1957 as the Walt Whitman Bridge. By 1966, plans were approved for two additional crossings: the Commodore Barry Bridge, which opened in 1974, and the Betsy Ross Bridge, inaugurated in 1976. Both the Benjamin Franklin and Walt Whitman bridges had each carried over one billion vehicles by 1990.

In 2011, the DRPA ended its operation of the Philadelphia Cruise Terminal. Four years later, in 2015, it sold the RiverLink Ferry service to a joint bi-state partnership for $300,000.

In 2022, in partnership with TotalEnergies, DRPA installed solar panels with a capacity exceeding 20 MW across its properties. Solar canopies at PATCO stations including Lindenwold, Ashland, Woodcrest, and Ferry Avenue—as well as at the Betsy Ross Bridge, Commodore Barry Bridge, and DRPA headquarters—now generate more than half of the authority’s electricity consumption. This initiative is expected to yield savings of approximately $12 million over a two-decade power purchase agreement.

Board of Commissioners

The Delaware River Port Authority is overseen by a sixteen-member board of commissioners evenly divided between New Jersey and Pennsylvania appointees. The governor of New Jersey appoints eight members from that state. In Pennsylvania, six commissioners are appointed by its governor, with the remaining two seats held by elected officials serving ex officio: the Pennsylvania treasurer and auditor general.

This board also functions as the governing body for the Port Authority Transit Corporation (PATCO), which operates as a subsidiary of DRPA.

Bridges

The DRPA manages four toll bridges that span the Delaware River between Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Each bridge imposes a $6 toll for westbound traffic. Listed from southwest to northeast, these are:

• Commodore Barry Bridge – Completed in 1974, this is the system’s longest bridge, connecting Chester, Pennsylvania with Bridgeport, New Jersey. It carries traffic on U.S. Route 322 and New Jersey County Route 536 and serves as the final Delaware River crossing between these states before reaching Delaware via the Delaware Memorial Bridge.

• Walt Whitman Bridge – The highest-volume crossing links South Philadelphia with Gloucester City, New Jersey along I-76. Traffic surges during events at the nearby South Philadelphia Sports Complex and on summer weekends when travelers use this route to access shore destinations through I-76, New Jersey Route 42, and the Atlantic City Expressway.

• Benjamin Franklin Bridge – As the oldest bridge in service since its opening in 1926, it connects Camden, New Jersey to Center City, Philadelphia. It carries U.S. Route 30, Interstate 676, and accommodates the PATCO Speedline. Notably, it held the record as the world’s longest suspension bridge from 1926 until 1929.

• Betsy Ross Bridge – The most recent addition (opened in 1976) connects Philadelphia’s Bridesburg neighborhood with Pennsauken Township in New Jersey. It carries New Jersey Route 90 and provides direct access to Interstate 95 in Pennsylvania.

Public transit

• PATCO Speedline (rapid transit system)

Property holdings

• One Port Center, Camden, New Jersey

Previously operated

• AmeriPort Intermodal (rail yard no longer in service)
• RiverLink Ferry (currently managed by Delaware River Waterfront Corporation)
• Skylink (aerial tramway project, partially constructed and subsequently abandoned)

Police Department

Security and law enforcement for all DRPA assets, including Port Authority Transit Corporation (PATCO) stations and trains, are handled by the DRPA Police Department.

See also

• Interstate compact
• List of crossings of the Delaware River
• Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission (a bi-state agency overseeing bridges farther north along the Delaware River)
• Delaware River and Bay Authority (bi-state entity of Delaware and New Jersey responsible for bridges further south on the Delaware River)
• Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (bi-state organization managing the PATH rapid transit network)

External links

• Delaware River Port Authority Police Department