Trenton Makes the World Takes
Project Overview
In August 1917 a historic and iconic sign was installed on the Lower Trenton Toll Bridge, and 100 years later in August 2017 Carr & Duff began upgrading it with 21st century technology. ‘TRENTON MAKES THE WORLD TAKES’ is a memorable point of interest for travelers on the northeast rail corridor and US Route 1 between Philadelphia, New York and beyond.
Carr & Duff was awarded the prime contract to perform a total renovation of the sign. The antiquated and environmentally sensitive neon tubing had to be meticulously deconstructed by C&D crews and carefully recycled. Once the old neon tubing was removed, work began on patching and painting the sheet metal sign structure. During the painting and patching portion of the project, C&D crews began removing and replacing the existing wiring and conduits, and replacing them with new rigid conduit and stainless steel junction boxes.
The 25 sign letters are 9’ 6” tall and spaced between the classical Warren Truss riveted steel bridge. The sign is on the southern face of the five span, 1019’ long bridge over the Delaware River that connects Trenton, NJ with Morrisville, PA. C&D was tasked with maintenance and protection of traffic controls and coordination during the project with the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission for lane restrictions and travel impacts.
C&D crews installed over 2,000’ of 1” rigid conduit, 12,500’ of XHHW cable, 3000’ of DMX cable, 56 power supplies to provide the 24 volts for the LED drivers and 1,166’ of flexible LED in the 25 sign letters. Two new Nema 4X 100 amp power panels and one touch screen panel controller were also installed.