Wilmington Rail Viaduct
Near Wilmington, Delaware
Every Amtrak train that rolls through Wilmington, Delaware is riding on a structure built by the Pennsylvania Railroad between nineteen oh two and nineteen oh eight. The Wilmington Rail Viaduct stretches roughly four miles through the city, lifting the tracks above street level on heavy stone retaining walls, plate girder bridges, and sections of brick arch. The Pennsylvania Railroad built it as part of a sweeping campaign to eliminate grade crossings along what was then the main line between New York and Washington.
Today that corridor is the Northeast Corridor, one of the busiest passenger rail corridors in North America. Wilmington's viaduct is still doing the same job it was built for more than a century ago, carrying millions of passengers a year over city streets without a single at-grade crossing.
