Its design enabled it to carry two tracks of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad (P&R) at an angle over Sixth Street in Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania.

[3] This bridge was acquired by Conrail after the P&R's demise in 1976 and was transferred to Norfolk Southern Railway in 1999.

[4] The bridge was designed in 1856 by Richard Osborne, who submitted a pre-construction model to the company.

Workers were partially paid with whiskey and pieces of soap, rather than entirely in cash, leading to the structure's unusual nickname.

The courses of the arch were constructed from local brownstone in elliptical curves that follow the angle at which the railroad tracks cross the street.