Rancocas Creek is a tributary of the Delaware River, approximately 30 mi (48 km) long, in southwestern New Jersey in United States. It drains a rural agricultural and forested area on the eastern edge of the Pinelands north and northeast of Camden and the New Jersey suburbs of Philadelphia.
Contents |
Overview
It rises in several branches in the Pinelands National Reserve. The North Branch rises in northern Burlington County, in Mirror Lake, just south of Fort Dix. It flows WNW past Mount Holly.
The South Branch rises in central Burlington County near Chatsworth and flows generally northwest. It receives the short Southwest Branch from the south approximately 5 mi (8 km) south of Mount Holly. The North and South branches join near Rancocas State Park, approximately 3 mi (5 km) west of Mount Holly, near the crossing of the New Jersey Turnpike and Interstate 295 (Delaware-New Jersey). A few hundred yards downstream of the Interstate 295 and NJ Turnpike bridges, Burlington County Route 635 passes over the Creek on a bridge built less than 4 feet over the average water level. This bridge has the capability for the center section of the bridge to swivel from the perpendicular to the river to parallel, to allow small boat traffic through. The bridge has rarely opened in the past 3 decades, however, due to removal of the powered opening mechanism. The mechanism, installed in 1911 a few short years after the bridge was constructed, had allowed for easier openings for Rancocas Creek barge traffic, once a very popular means for freight transport. After rehabilitation of the bridge in the 1980s, the powered mechanism was removed due to the near-lack of creek barge traffic and expense of maintenance. The bridge may be opened in case of emergency, but requires manual labor to be swiveled open. The combined stream flows 5 mi (8 km) northwest past Willingboro and joins the Delaware from the east at Riverside, where it is crossed by the
It is navigable for approximately 10 mi (16 km) upstream from its mouth on the Delaware. However, the CR 635 bridge effectively places a barrier to boat traffic 5 miles upstream from the Delaware.
Tributaries
Accidents
April 23, 1853 – Rancocas Creek, New Jersey: Engineer of Camden & Amboy's 2 p.m. train out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania misses stop signals and runs his train off of an open drawspan between modern-day Riverside and Delanco on the Rancocas Creek. Fortunately, there are no fatalities.
See also
 |
This New Jersey state location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
