PennDOT officials were joined Friday by federal, state and county lawmakers in dedicating a new bridge on Hulmeville Avenue in Langhorne Manor to the memory of a Neshaminy High School graduate who died as a Marine in Vietnam.

The new PFC John N. Candy USMC Memorial Bridge cost $5.2 million and will take motorists over CSX and SEPTA rail lines, replacing an 86-year old three-span bridge that was in a state of advanced deterioration which was discovered in a bridge inspection before it was closed down in May 2019. It carried approximately 4,650 vehicles a day.

Candy joined the Marines in June 1966 and died in Vietnam in October 1968 while serving with Company E, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines, 3rd MARDIV (REIN) FMF.

Ed Preston, president of the Pennsylvania Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, said the organization petitioned for the bridge to be named for Candy because he lived about four blocks from the span.

Candy's sisters and nieces and nephews attended the ceremony, he said. Gov. Tom Wolf signed the Senate Bill renaming the bridge into law in June 2021. The group hopes to have the state name other bridges and roads for members of the military from Bucks County who died or are missing in Vietnam.

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Also in attendance were Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, who represents Bucks County, state Rep. Frank Farry, R-142, and Bucks County Commissioner Chairman Bob Harvie.

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The new bridge is a "one-span, composite steel plate girder bridge, measuring 93 feet long, and 33 feet wide with reinforced concrete deck and abutments," PennDOT stated. A prefabricated retaining system also was installed and the new bridge provides improved horizontal and vertical clearances for the trains running under the bridge.

J.D. Eckman Inc. of Atglen, Chester County, was the general contractor on the project which was funded entirely by the state.