In 1937, the narrow crossing of Silver Lake along State Street in Dover was replaced with a new, wider bridge. On July 18, 1938, the grade crossing with the Reading Railroad (now abandoned) and the Pennsylvania Railroad (now Norfolk Southern's Shellpot Secondary) on South Market Street in Wilmington was eliminated with the opening of a bridge over the railroad tracks. On January 10, 1939, the "S.S. Waukegan" struck and destroyed the bridge carrying US 13 over the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal in St. Georges, killing the bridge tender. The destruction of the bridge led to detours for US 13 along smaller roads. Plans were made to construct a high-level crossing of the canal. Work on acquiring the right-of-way for the new bridge took place in 1940. Construction of the bridge took place in 1941. The replacement steel truss St. Georges Bridge over the canal opened on January 31, 1942. This bridge was the first four-lane crossing of the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal.