Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Bridge is the other name for the State Street Bridge, 1,312 feet of concrete arch beneath you. This is a 1,312-foot (400 m) concrete, deck arch bridge that carries you over Pennsylvania Route 230 and Paxton Creek. Completed in 1930, it was built to be the principal entrance into downtown Harrisburg and the Pennsylvania State Capitol Complex from the east.
Its scale and classic arching profile reflect a post‑Capitol reconstruction ambition: after the Pennsylvania State Capitol burned to the ground in 1897, plans were drawn to improve and expand the surrounding park and to create a more impressive Capitol setting. Land for that expansion was acquired in 1916, and architect Arnold Brunner was hired to design the construction and landscaping of the new buildings. Planning paused for World War I, and in 1919 it was decided the bridge should serve as a memorial to the armed forces.
The bridge’s national significance was recognized much later when it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 22, 1988, and documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in 1997. Since 1930 this arch has been the grand east entrance, and downtown and the Capitol complex wait at its far end.