Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, Schuylkill River Viaduct

The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, Schuylkill River Viaduct, also called the Reading Railroad Bridge and the Falls Rail Bridge, is a stone arch bridge that carries rail traffic over the Schuylkill River at Falls of Schuylkill (East Falls) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

[1] The P&R built the viaduct, 1853–56, to carry coal cars to the company's coal terminal on the Delaware River in the Port Richmond neighborhood of Philadelphia.

Because it crosses the river at an oblique angle, it was constructed as a ribbed skew arch bridge, with each span composed of a series of offset stone arches.

The bridge consists of six main spans, each 78 feet (24 m) in length, crossing the river and Kelly Drive; five small arches, each 9 feet (2.7 m) in length, for pedestrian traffic; and a 30-foot (9.1 m) arch over Martin Luther King, Jr., Drive.

The bridge continues to carry rail traffic to this day.