The Chesapeake Utilities Corporation has long served the Delmarva Peninsula (Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia) with gas and electric service. They trace their roots back to the Dover Gas Light Company found in 1859. The company has grown both through expansion and acquisition. One such subsidiary is the Eastern Shore Pipeline Company, which owns the pipelines and control stations that bridge the gas into the local operating companies that serve the end customers.

Chesapeake Utilities was expanding in the 1980s, and needed to bring in more capacity. Gas fields were located nearby in western Pennsylvania, so a pipeline coming in from the north and crossing the C&D Canal seemed to make the most sense. They engaged Clear Span Engineering from Houston, Texas, to design the new canal crossing. What emerged was a pure suspension bridge that would suspend the 12-inch pipeline 141 feet above the water. Clear Span was ideally suited to complete the design given that pipeline bridges was their specialty. They have designed over 100 pipeline bridges. The Trinity Steel Company, also from Texas, was hired to fabricate the steel for the structure. The pipeline bridge was completed in 1986.

I am not aware of a formal name for this bridge. The US Army Corps of Engineers maps simply refer to it as the Pipeline Bridge. That is a little generic, so I am calling it the Eastern Shore Pipeline Bridge.

The photo above is looking to the east towards the pipeline bridge as seen from the north shore of the C&D Canal. The Conrail Bridge, a large railroad lift bridge, is visible just over a mile further to the east.

These are two views looking to the southeast towards the pipeline bridge from the north shore of the canal. The photo above shows the southern end of the suspended span over the canal, while the photo below is a closer view of the south suspension tower. The suspension cable is too thin to be readily visible in these two photos.

These two photos are close views of the south suspension tower as seen from the north shore of the canal. The photo above is looking southeast towards the tower, while the photo below is looking slightly southwest. The suspension cable is visible in the photo above, and easily seen in the photo below.