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West Shore (Harrisburg)

Geography of Cumberland County, PennsylvaniaGeography of Perry County, PennsylvaniaGeography of York County, PennsylvaniaHarrisburg–Carlisle metropolitan statistical areaSusquehanna Valley
Use mdy dates from December 2022

The West Shore of the Harrisburg area is a group of western suburbs of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in proximity to the right bank of the Susquehanna River. This distinct area is located mainly in eastern Cumberland County but also in SE Perry County and far northern York County. The substantial width of the river adjacent to Harrisburg contributes to the local perception of the existence of an East Shore and a West Shore. The Patriot-News has a West Shore edition for local news and the Pennsylvania Turnpike (Interstate 76) junction with Interstate 83 located just south of New Cumberland in Fairview Township, York County is named the Harrisburg West Shore Interchange. The West Shore Farmers Market is located in Lemoyne. The West Shore School District includes municipalities in Cumberland and York Counties.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article West Shore (Harrisburg) (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

West Shore (Harrisburg)
Plum Street,

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N 40.241 ° E -76.894 °
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Plum Street 596
17043
Pennsylvania, United States
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Cumberland Valley Railroad Bridge
Cumberland Valley Railroad Bridge

The Cumberland Valley Railroad Bridge is a currently unused railroad bridge. The bridge links downtown Harrisburg, City Island, and the western suburbs of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. The bridge was originally constructed by the Cumberland Valley Railroad as part of the mainline from Harrisburg to Hagerstown via Chambersburg. The Cumberland Valley Railroad itself was leased as a subsidiary by the Pennsylvania Railroad. The first crossing, a wooden covered bridge, began construction in the summer of 1836 and opened on January 16, 1839. It was destroyed by fire on December 4, 1844. The four eastern spans remained, but were washed away during the spring floods in 1846.A second crossing in a slightly different location began construction on February 3, 1845, and was completed in 1846. This bridge had an upper deck for railroad traffic, and a lower deck for pedestrian and wagon traffic. Use of the lower deck was discontinued when the bridge was strengthened in 1850. The bridge's latticework timbers were removed and replaced with heavier braces from 1855 to 1856, and new wooden arches were built in 1872. From 1880 to 1886, the piers beneath the bridge were gradually replaced, allowing it to carry much heavier traffic.Construction on an open iron truss bridge parallel to the existing wooden span began in September 1886. The work was done by the Union Bridge Company and the Edge Moore Bridge Company. The new bridge, whose eastern piers were 4 feet (1.2 m) higher than the old span's, opened in July 1887.The present concrete structure was completed about 1916. Although the majority of the bridge has been abandoned for rail use over the past several decades, it has been suggested the bridge become the principal crossing for the Corridor One rail commuter system to serve the renewed rail needs of the metropolitan area and of Harrisburg's west shore. With its standing ownership agreements, this plan faces major challenges as the bridge is currently shared among three owners. Two of these are the railroads on either side which continue to operate on the tracks immediately off of the bridge on either side. The third owner is Capital Area Transit which currently does not own any property with immediate access to the bridge. Immediately to the south of the Cumberland Valley Bridge, a similar iron truss structure was erected in 1891 by the Reading Company, originally known as the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad.

John Harris Bridge
John Harris Bridge

The John Harris Bridge is a steel girder multilane highway bridge that carries Interstate 83 and the Capital Beltway across the Susquehanna River at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, connecting the East and West Shores of metropolitan Harrisburg. It is primarily used by commuters and local services, including the extensive local trucking industry, and also carries cross-river traffic to or from the counties of the lower Susquehanna valley. The bridge was named in honor of John Harris, Sr, an early 18th century trader and ferry operator who was among the earliest Europeans to settle in the area, and whose son laid out the city he named after his father. It is also known locally as the South Bridge, in reference to the older Walnut Street, Market Street, and Harvey Taylor bridges upstream, which were the primary local automobile crossings at the time of its construction. A product of the post-World War II growth of the Harrisburg suburbs, the bridge officially opened on January 22, 1960, as part of the Harrisburg Expressway. On the east shore, Central Iron and Steel and parts of the Shipoke neighborhood, both dating from the 19th century, were demolished to accommodate the bridge and its exit ramps into the downtown. The bridge was widened to six lanes in 1982. In 1997, the Expressway and bridge were designated as part of the Capital Beltway which loops the metropolitan area. In 2015, as part of a nearby reconstruction project, a fourth northbound lane was opened, for a total of seven traffic lanes.In 2020, the John Harris was one of nine bridges selected by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) for end-of-life replacement under its Pathways Major Bridge Public-Private Partnership (P3) Initiative. Because P3 costs were to be paid in part by tolling, the Dauphin and Cumberland County governments, state legislators, and business groups came out against the P3 Initiative or making the John Harris a toll bridge. Lawsuits were filed against PennDOT, and in June 2022, Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court permanently blocked the P3 Initiative. In July 2022 the state enacted Act 84, rescinding the bridge-tolling plan.