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Tens of thousands of people walked across the Benjamin Franklin Bridge on Saturday to celebrate the 100th birthday of the iconic landmark spanning the Delaware River to connect Philadelphia and Camden, New Jersey.

Originally called the Delaware River Bridge before it was renamed for the famous Founding Father in 1955, the bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world when it first opened, spanning more than 1700 feet.

The Camden side of the bridge hosted celebrations, featuring speeches, dance performances, games and vendors. Speakers and elected officials from Pennsylvania and New Jersey touted the bridge’s vital role for millions in the region.

“Few things built by human hands remain as important, useful and recognizable a century later as the Ben Franklin Bridge does,” said John Hanson, chair of the Delaware River Port Authority, the bi-state agency that owns and operates the bridge. “It has carried people to work, brought families together, supported businesses and helped shape the life and the economy of this region.”

Nearly 100,000 vehicles cross the bridge each day, along with approximately 20,000 passengers on the PATCO High Speed Line that runs its length.

Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker and Camden Mayor Vic Carstarphen performed a ceremonial handshake onstage. Each reflected on the bridge’s importance to their cities on either side of the state line.

Parker, who served as chairperson of the DRPA board of commissioners from 2021 to 2024, modified her usual “One Philly” chant, asking the crowd to repeat after her: “One bridge, one region, two cities, united in America.”

“During this time in our nation’s history, when division of all kinds seems to be something that people like to peddle, I want you to remember that this bridge represents a sense of connectedness,” she told the crowd. “This bridge says that no matter your race, your class, your socio-economic status, we can take it to and from access to economic opportunity.”

The bridge is “one of the most recognizable and enduring landmarks in this region,” Carstarphen said, recalling that he helped paint the bridge when he was 15.

He and other speakers also celebrated the work of the architects, engineers and workers who built the bridge and continue to maintain it today.

“It’s about those folks who really put forth the effort to make something happen that will outlive them,” Carstarphen said. “People had the courage to build this bridge, and they knew it would outlive them for us today.”

Ralph Modjeski, an immigrant from Poland, designed the bridge and served as its chief engineer.

The “ingenuity and foresight” of Modjeski and his team had a lasting impact, said Michael Britt, CEO of the firm Modjeski & Masters.

“The Ben Franklin Bridge was designed with a balanced approach to strength, redundancy, adaptability and, of course, aesthetics,” Britt said. “It has become an iconic bridge of this area of this region … Today’s transportation demands bear little resemblance to those of a century ago, yet the bridge continues to safely serve modern transportation demands.”

Jim Schultz, chairman of the DRPA board, said celebrating the bridge’s 100th anniversary during the nation’s 250th anniversary is “appropriate.”

“This bridge symbolizes a whole lot more than just transportation to and from Camden and Philadelphia,” he said. “It really is about connection. It’s about connection to a brighter future. It’s about connection to getting a better education.”

As part of the celebration, the DRPA unveiled a restored wing statue that is one of the original works of art accompanying the bridge when it first opened.

Walkers aged 1 to 96 traversed the Benjamin Franklin Bridge

Kae Fretz and her daughter, Martha Goettelmann, joined the stream of walkers on the Camden side, headed towards Philadelphia, on Saturday morning.

At 96 years old, Fretz said she is almost as old as the bridge itself — and has a personal connection to its opening.

The bridge first opened for traffic on July 1, 1926, less than a week after her parents were married. Her father, who lived in Narberth at the time, had to take a ferry across the river to court her mother in Haddonfield, New Jersey.

“My dad went across courting until the day he moved to Haddonfield and the bridge opened, which is sort of a funny story,” Fretz said.

Coming across the bridge in the opposite direction as Fretz was a member of a different generation: 18-month-old Sakari, pedaling a tricycle alongside his father, Adam Letnom.

Sakari declined to share his thoughts — he was sleepy and it was his naptime, Letnom explained — but his father said it had been a “good experience.”

“It’s kind of amazing to live in this time,” he said. “To think that this wasn’t here before, and however they crossed … and just having this available for people to travel across the bridge. I think that’s pretty amazing, and then being able to experience that 100-year anniversary, I think that’s pretty cool.”

Alexis Lightner said she was disappointed by what she said was a lack of accessibility for bikers. She and her husband had biked to the event with their two kids, but were unable to lock them anywhere.

“Even though people were invited to bike across, [it] feels a little bike unfriendly because now we’re not able to enjoy the fair together,” she said. “A little bit of an oversight and an otherwise really lovely idea and celebration.”

For Patrick Bryan, of Philadelphia’s Fishtown neighborhood, the event was a chance to walk across the bridge for the first time. He and Kerri McGuckin sat on the mid-road concrete divider near the Camden side, waiting for a bottleneck at the end of the bridge to clear.

“The amount of people here is like a lot more than I anticipated,” he said.

Samantha Williams said it was “exciting” to have the bridge closed off to pedestrian traffic.

“I walked over the bridge many times, but never in the middle of the street,” she said.

She dug into a bacon stick from one of the food trucks while scanning the crowd. She said the event was “wonderful.”

“This is a connection between everybody and all Philly, Atlantic City, Camden, New Jersey,” she said. “Just the connection of people, as you can see, different races, color, creeds. Everybody’s getting along. Nice music, nice vibes.”

The bridge reopened to traffic at 4 p.m. Saturday. It will feature three-minute kinetic lighting displays beginning at sunset every half hour until 2 a.m.