By Mike DeNardo

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – If you’re sitting in traffic on the Ben Franklin Bridge, then you’ll have a moment to consider this: the bridge has secret trolley stops and elevators that have never been used.

Inside the grey anchorages on either side of the Ben Franklin Bridge is the secret — long-forgotten trolley stops that were never put into service.

DRPA senior engineer Mike Howard, who has written a book on the bridge’s history, says the bridge was designed to accommodate trolleys from New Jersey:

“By the time the bridge had opened in 1926, a lot of the trolley lines had converted to buses and they never took advantage of the trolley track areas for that service.”

Inside each of the four anchorages, are never-used elevators and seven tile mosaics depicting milestones in U.S. transportation.

“You have elevators that exist in there that are made of beautiful wood — and just never opened to the public,” Howard says.

And under the lightning bolt statue on the Philly side is a cavernous area meant as a terminal for the trolleys that never ran.

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