Pickup across both banks of the Delaware

Two banks, one service area

The Philadelphia metro sits on both sides of the Delaware River, and so do its empty reels. On the west bank, Philadelphia and the four Pennsylvania collar counties, Bucks, Montgomery, Chester and Delaware, hold most of the region's distributors, contractors' shops and utility yards. On the east bank, Camden, Gloucester and Burlington counties in New Jersey hold miles of warehouses, industrial parks and new construction along I-295, the New Jersey Turnpike and Route 130. Pickups run on both banks, and the bridge-line map above shows how they connect.

The bridges a reel truck uses

Six road bridges cross the river in the service area, and route planning starts with them:

• Burlington-Bristol Bridge, linking Bristol in Bucks County with Burlington City.
• Tacony-Palmyra Bridge, from Northeast Philadelphia to Palmyra in Burlington County.
• Betsy Ross Bridge, from Bridesburg in Philadelphia to Pennsauken.
• Benjamin Franklin Bridge, from Center City to Camden.
• Walt Whitman Bridge, from South Philadelphia to Gloucester City and the I-76 and I-295 corridor.
• Commodore Barry Bridge, from Chester in Delaware County to Logan Township in Gloucester County.

A pickup in Pennsauken and another in Port Richmond are a short hop over the Betsy Ross. One in Chester and one in Logan Township share the Commodore Barry. Planning pickups around the crossings is how small and recycling-only loads stay affordable.

How the area pages are organised

Each county page gives the main roads, the river crossing a truck uses, the electric utility where it matters, the towns that have their own page and the kinds of sites that produce empty reels there. Each town page adds its ZIP codes, the roads a truck takes to reach it and what tends to turn up locally. If your town is not listed, use the county page; every ZIP code in the eight counties is covered.

What differs from county to county

• Philadelphia has the densest mix: row-house renovations, big institutional and commercial jobs, the Navy Yard, the port, and redevelopment of old industrial land.
• Montgomery County has distributors, contractors' shops and office and lab construction around King of Prussia, Conshohocken and Plymouth Meeting.
• Chester County is more spread out, with corporate campuses around Malvern and Exton and growing towns like Phoenixville and West Chester.
• Bucks County has the data-centre and industrial land in Falls Township and the I-95 and US 1 corridors through Bensalem and Bristol.
• Delaware County has the riverfront industry of Chester and Eddystone and the airport edge at Essington.
• Camden County has the city of Camden, Pennsauken's industrial belt and Cherry Hill's commercial corridors.
• Gloucester County has the Pureland Industrial Complex in Logan Township and the river towns of Paulsboro and West Deptford.
• Burlington County has the Route 73 and Turnpike corridor in Mount Laurel and Moorestown and the old river city of Burlington.

Outside the eight counties

Requests from New Castle County in Delaware, Mercer County in New Jersey, or the edges of Berks and Lehigh counties are welcome when a load is big enough to justify the drive, or when a truck is already heading that way. Say where you are in the request and we will answer plainly.

How a week of pickups is planned

Requests come in by form and email all week. We sort them by bank, then by corridor, the I-95 riverfront, the Schuylkill valley and the Main Line, the US 202 and US 422 suburbs, Lower Bucks, the Route 130 and I-295 belt in New Jersey, and the Turnpike towns. A big yard clearance anchors a day; smaller requests are slotted around it in the order that saves the most miles. A Monday might start in Eddystone, cross the Commodore Barry to Pureland, swing up I-295 to West Deptford and Pennsauken, and recross the Betsy Ross for two row-house stops in Port Richmond. Tuesday could be the Schuylkill valley, from Conshohocken through Norristown to Collegeville and Phoenixville. That routing is why we ask for a photo and a rough count: it tells us how much space each stop needs on the truck.

Tolls, timing and weight

The Delaware River bridges are tolled, and trucks pay more than cars, so crossings are counted carefully. Rush hours on I-76, I-95 and the approaches to the Ben Franklin and Walt Whitman can double journey times. Heavy reels add weight quickly, and a box truck fills by volume long before it reaches its weight limit with empties. Knowing the sizes in advance lets us choose between a small truck for spools, a liftgate truck for medium reels, and a flatbed for the largest drums.

Rural edges and city blocks

At one extreme are the farms of western Chester County and eastern Burlington County, with long driveways and barns; at the other are Philadelphia's narrow row-house blocks with parking on both sides. Both are fine. Just tell us what the truck will find.

Suburbs in between

Most requests come from the wide middle: postwar subdivisions, office parks and shopping plazas. Garages and loading docks there make pickups simple and quick.

Questions

Is there a minimum load outside the city?

No fixed minimum. Small loads anywhere are grouped with other pickups nearby.

Do you cross the river for a single pickup?

For a worthwhile load, yes. For one or two reels, they wait until a truck is crossing anyway.