Alford Street Bridge
The Rt 99 Alford Street Bridge across the Mystic River, mile 1.4, between Charlestown and Boston, Massachusetts, has a vertical clearance in the closed position of 7 feet at mean high water and 16 feet at mean low water.
The Anderson Memorial Bridge (commonly but incorrectly called Larz Anderson Bridge) connects Allston, a neighborhood of Boston, and Cambridge. The bridge stands on the site of the "great bridge" built in 1662, the first structure to span the Charles River. It has brought Boston traffic into Harvard Square since it was finished in 1915.
Often assumed to be named after Larz Anderson, the bridge was actually built by him as a memorial to his father, Nicholas Longworth Anderson. To do so, Anderson was helped by the huge family fortune of his wife, Isabel Weld Perkins. According to the Metropolitan Park Commission of 1913:
| "The Anderson Memorial Bridge replaces the inadequate, old wooden draw bridge which for many years had marked the former condition of the banks of Charles River. The new bridge was made possible by the gift of the Honorable Larz Anderson as a memorial to his father, a gallant general of the United States Army, Nicholas Longworth Anderson, renowned for his part in the Civil War...'" |
The bridge was designed by the architectural firm of Wheelwright, Haven and Hoyt and completed under the direction of John R. Rablin, chief engineer for the Metropolitan District Commission. Anderson Memorial Bridge is constructed of reinforced concrete accented by red brick. | The bridge's spandrel walls and panels are fashioned to give the illusion of rough-hewn stone. It has a Georgian Revival design with neoclassical influences that visually connect it to the other bridges that span the Charles as well as the nearby buildings of Harvard University. |
Andrew P. McArdle Bridge
It is a drawbridge over the Chelsea River, near it's mouth. Also known as the Meridian Street Bridge.
Arsenal Street Bridge
The Arsenal Street Bridge is a bridge connecting Arsenal Street in
Watertown, Massachusetts to Western Avenue in Allston, Boston, Massachusetts. It
was built in 1925 by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Metropolitan District
Commission.
The bridge and street are named for the nearby Watertown Arsenal. Western Avenue later crosses the Charles River again into Cambridge, Massachusetts over the Western Avenue Bridge.
Belden G. Bly Bridge
1912, Corner of Ballard Street and Route 107, carrying Route 107 over the Saugus River
This bridge was originally known as the Fox Hill Bridge, and was renamed the Belden G. Bly Bridge in 1985. The Bly Bridge is a Scherzer Rolling Lift, a common railroad bridge design used from the 1890s until the 1950s. This example was constructed in 1912 and is still in use today. It is the oldest Scherzer Rolling Lift under the supervision of the Massachusetts Department of Public Works. Streetcar tracks originally ran along the southbound section of the bridge.
The Boston University Bridge, originally the Cottage Farm Bridge, is a bridge carrying Route 2 over the Charles River connecting Boston to Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is named for Boston University, which lies at the south end of the bridge. It was built in 1927, on a design by Andrew Canzanelli. Canzanelli designed the Weeks footbridge and the first shell constructed on the Esplanade. The bridge crosses diagonally over an older bridge carrying the CSX Transportation Grand Junction Line.
Contrary to popular myth, the bridge is not the only place in the world where a boat can sail under a train driving under a car driving under an airplane. Other such places include the 25 de Abril Bridge, in Lisbon.
During the period of planning for the Inner Belt, the BU Bridge represented the planned crossing point of the highway from Boston to Cambridge. Several plans were discussed for the area; had the road been built over the river, the bridge would have been demolished and replaced with a high-level highway overpass, while if the road had been built as a tunnel, the bridge would have been left standing as a crossing for surface route traffic.
The BU Bridge is undergoing a planned renovation. The bridge, particularly the pedestrian facilities, are in severe disrepair. The river is visible through holes in the deck and the iron stairs leading from Storrow Drive are rusted through. Nevertheless, the Commonwealth claims that the bridge is structurally sound.
The Charles River Bridge is a railway drawbridge across the Charles River that connects North Station in Boston, Massachusetts to MBTA Commuter Rail lines north of Boston.
The Charles River Dam Bridge, also called Craigie's Bridge or Craigie Drawbridge or the Canal Bridge, is a six-lane bascule (drawbridge) bridge across the Charles River, connecting Leverett Circle in downtown Boston, USA to Monseigneur O'Brien Highway in East Cambridge, Massachusetts. The bridge, maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR, formerly the MDC), carries Route 28 next to the Green Line's Lechmere Viaduct. The bridge is fully within Boston, with the city line to the north, at the center of the original river. The original lock for the Charles River was just west of the bridge, but it has been relocated east to multiple locks on the site of the old Warren Bridge (see Charles River Dam).
The Museum of Science is built on the dam.
The first bridge on the site was known as the Canal Bridge, at the mouth of the Middlesex Canal to Lowell (not to be confused with the nearby Lechmere Canal). The bridge, spearheaded by businessman Andrew Craigie, opened in 1810 to connect Boston to Lechmere Point. The bridge came to be known as Craigie's Bridge, and was replaced in 1910 by the current bridge.
The Charlestown Bridge is the easternmost bridge on the Charles River in Boston, Massachusetts. The bridge is part of Massachusetts Route 99, and it connects to Main Street to the south to Rutherford Avenue to the north. The bridge is also part of Boston's Freedom Trail.
The Charlestown High Bridge (referred to as the John F. Fitzgerald Bridge on old AAA Tourbook maps), spanned the Charles River in Boston, Massachusetts, and was part of Interstate 93 and U.S. Route 1 at the north end of the Central Artery.
This double-decker truss bridge, built in 1954, was to originally carry Interstate 95, which was to go through Boston from southwest to northeast in tandem with the Tobin Bridge, built in 1950. The I-95 project and several other highway projects in and around Boston, including the highly controversial Inner Belt (I-695), were cancelled due to heavy public opposition in the early 1970s. Interstate 93 was allowed to be completed from the Yankee Division Highway (Route 128) to the foot of the Charlestown High Bridge in 1969, and the I-93 designation was extended onto the bridge and the Central Artery in the early 1970s.
| Originally intended to carry 75,000 vehicles per day in the 1950s, the Charlestown High Bridge carried up to 190,000 vehicles per day in the 1990s. For years, the bridge was a major traffic bottleneck that affected southbound commuters from Boston's North Shore and southern New Hampshire for miles. | And northbound, due to a poorly-planned lane drop to accommodate incoming vehicles from Storrow Drive, traffic backups leading to the High Bridge were threatening to cause hours of daily gridlock in downtown Boston. | These problems have been addressed in the planning and construction of the $14.6 billion Big Dig project. The elegant cable-stayed Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge, which opened fully to traffic in December 2003, has replaced the Charlestown High Bridge, which was demolished in 2004. |
Charles M. Braga, Jr. Memorial Bridge
Municipality: Fall River/Somerset
Bridge Owner: Massachusetts Highway Department
Facility On Bridge: I-195
Feature Under Bridge: Taunton River
Date Built: 1965, Date Rebuilt: 1989
Overall Length: 5,780', Overall Width: 101.3'
The main bridge is a 3-span continuous riveted steel through truss, a single intersection Warren with verticals; cast-in-place concrete deck. The approach spans are continuous riveted plate girders.
The 1989 rehabilitation included the replacement of the existing concrete deck with a lightweight concrete deck overlain with bituminous concrete; New Jersey Barriers were added; steel was repaired as needed.
| I-195 was planned in the early 1960's as a way of providing interstate access to the communities of southeastern Massachusetts that lie along Buzzard's Bay, including the cities of New Bedford and Fall River. The biggest obstacle to this planned road was the Taunton River, which, at the planned location of I-195, is a very busy shipping channel, with large ocean going vessels needing access to docks along the Fall River waterfront. | Because of this, all existing bridges over the Taunton River between Fall River and Somerset are movable bridges. Since a movable bridge was not desirable on an interstate, a high level crossing was required. This resulted in the design and construction of the Braga bridge, with the middle span of the through truss spanning over the 400 foot shipping channel and providing a clearance of 135 feet over mean high water. |
It is the youngest of 14 single intersection Warren through trusses and the youngest of 10 continuous truss bridges identified in the MassHighway database. Its main span, at 840 feet, is the longest single span of any bridge in the database. |
Chelsea Street Bridge
The Chelsea Street Bridge was built in 1900 and rehabilitated in 1936. It's design is Bascule type, which is a moveable bridge with a counterweight that continuously balances the span, or "leaf," throughout the entire upward swing in providing clearance for boat traffic.
It's largest span in 140.1' and a total length of 448.2", a deck width of 49.9" and a vertical clearance of 14.7' above the deck. On March 16, 2009, Gov. Deval Patrick has announced the start of a $125 million bridge renovation, part of an ongoing effort to repair the state's roads and bridges. The bridge construction is scheduled to be completed by April 2012.
Cradock Bridge
Carries Main street (state route 38s) over Mystic River. The existing bridge is a 100-foot long structure comprised of a 20-foot reinforced concrete beam structure constructed in 1908 and reconstructed in 1934 and an 80-foot twin stone-arch structure originally constructed in 1637 and reconstructed in 1880. In process of being rebuilt/repaired.
Eliot Bridge
1950, Maurice E. Witner, Burns and Kennerson, Charles River
Although built over 20 years later than its counterparts, the Eliot Bridge is visually and structurally consistent with the other Charles River bridges. Its roadbed is reinforced concrete braced by steel beams, while its three spans are constructed of reinforced concrete faced with brick and masonry. The firm of Burns and Kennerson constructed the bridge, which was designed by Maurice E. Witner. The Eliot Bridge is named for the first president of Harvard University, Charles W. Eliot.
Fort Point Bridge
Fort Point Channel is a channel (of water) separating South Boston from downtown Boston, Massachusetts, feeding into Boston Harbor. The south part of it has been gradually filled in for use by the South Bay rail yard and several highways (specifically the Central Artery and the Southeast Expressway). At its south end, the channel once widened into South Bay (Boston), from which the Roxbury Canal continued southwest where the Massachusetts Avenue Connector is now. The channel is surrounded by the Fort Point neighborhood, which is also named after the same colonial-era fort.
Grand Junction Railroad bridge crosses the river under the Boston University Bridge.
Granite St. Neponset River Bridge - Milton/Boston, MA
The basic structure of this drawbridge was built in 1914, spanning the Neponset River with the town of Milton to the south, and Boston, Massachusetts to the North.
The Harvard Bridge (also known locally as the "M.I.T. bridge" or the "Mass. Ave. Bridge") carries Massachusetts Avenue (Route 2A) from Back Bay, Boston to Cambridge. It is the longest bridge over the Charles River.
Bridge length measurement
It has been suggested that the most interesting aspect of this bridge is the unit of length coined for it. The Harvard Bridge is measured, locally, in smoots.
In 1958, members of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity purportedly measured the bridge's eastern sidewalk by carrying or dragging the shortest pledge that year, Oliver Smoot, end over end.
Given that Mr. Smoot is five feet seven inches tall, measuring the bridge from the zero smoot mark yields a bridge length of about 620 m. Other sources give the length of the bridge as approximately 660 m, but that appears to pertain to the roadway rather than sidewalk on which the marks are inscribed.
Crossing pedestrians are reminded by length markers painted at 10-smoot intervals that the bridge is 364.4 smoots and one ear long. The marks are repainted twice each year by members of the fraternity.
The bridge deck was rebuilt on the existing supports between 1988 and 1989 to repair structural deterioration and address issues raised by the 1983 collapse of the similarly-designed Mianus River Bridge in Greenwich, Connecticut. Not only were the smoot markings repainted on the new deck, but the sidewalk was divided into smoot-length slabs rather than the standard six foot slabs.
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After the failure of the Mianus River Bridge in 1983, the Harvard
Bridge was shut down for inspection due to being of similar
construction. Redesign and bidding kept the bridge closed and
apparently inactive for two years, after which reconstruction began.
Half the bridge opened around 1987 with the remaining half opening in
1989.
Harry Houdini performed one of his "well known escapes" from this bridge on May 1, 1908, according to a marker at the south-east end of the bridge. | According to M.I.T. legend, the bridge is so named, despite the fact that it is nearer to M.I.T. than to Harvard, because when it was originally constructed the state offered to name it after the Cambridge school that was most deserving. Harvard argued that their contribution to education was well-known, and thus they deserved the name. M.I.T. concurred, having analyzed the bridge and found it structurally unsound (and thus more deserving of the Harvard name than the M.I.T. name). Subsequently the bridge collapsed after five years of construction and was rebuilt, confirming the M.I.T. engineers' fears. |
The story is apocryphal. In fact, Harvard Bridge was first constructed between 1887 and 1890, whereas MIT only moved to its current location in 1916. It has never collapsed. |
John Hand Memorial Bridge
John Hand Bridge crosses the Mystic River behind the Brookline Bank at 60 High St. Recently renovated by the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority. Pedestrian Bridge.
Lagoon Bridge
One of the world's smallest suspension bridges! Boston's "Lagoon Bridge" which spans Boston Common's Public Garden Pond was designed in 1867 and made the first claim at the title when it was built in 1869. It consists of three spans. You can take a Swan Boat ride under the bridge for just $2.50 for adults, $1 for children, $2 for seniors and free for children under two years old, or walk over, around or under it free any time.
The Lechmere Viaduct is the last remaining elevated portion of the MBTAs Green Line (MBTA) in Boston, Massachusetts. Opened June 1, 1912, the Viaduct connected the Lechmere stop (the eastern terminus of the line) to the Causeway Street Elevated.
The Leverett Circle Connector Bridge
This 830-foot-long, four-lane companion to the ten-lane cable-stayed bridge connects the Leverett Circle area on the northwestern edge of downtown Boston with points north of the Charles River. Nine box girder sections - in cross section the largest in North America - were barged into place and raised into place by cranes or (in the main span) jacks. The Leverett Circle Connector bridge opened to traffic eight days ahead of schedule in October 1999.
costs: $22 million
completed: october 1999
Specifications:
Main Span Length — 380 feet
Back Span Length — 225 feet
Bridge Width — 76 feet
Superstructure:
Single steel box girder 18 feet deep at the piers, 9 feet deep at
center span. Concrete bridge deck.
Substructure:
2 water piers, 2 land bents, cast-in-place, supported on drilled shafts.
The Longfellow Bridge, also known to locals as the "Salt and Pepper Bridge" or the "Salt and Pepper Shaker Bridge", carries Route 3 and the MBTA's Red Line across the Charles River to connect Boston's Beacon Hill neighborhood with the Kendall Square area of Cambridge, Massachusetts. A portion of the elevated Charles/MGH train station also rests upon the southern end of the bridge. The bridge is owned by the Department of Conservation and Recreation. For some reason, the upstream sidewalks are narrower than the downstream. According to the Boston Herald, the bridge carries roughly 50,000 cars and 100,000 Red Line passengers every day.
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The bridge structure was built on the site of the 1793 West Boston
Bridge and was originally known as the Cambridge Bridge, but was
renamed for Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Willam Jackson served as chief
engineer and Edmund M. Wheelwright as architect. Wheelwright was
inspired by the 1893 Columbian Exposition and was trying to rival the
great bridges of Europe. The bridge opened on August 3, 1906, and
consists of 11 steel arch spans on masonry piers. The bridge has a
total length of 1,768 feet and supports road, subway, and
pedestrian traffic.
For a time during the 1990s and early 2000s, the bridge's towers bore several colorful paint splatters placed there by unknown vandals. These splatters remained on the bridge for several years, but were eventually cleaned off by the state. |
Where the Boston end of the bridge passes over Storrow Drive, there
was an old sign hung on the bridge over the roadway that said "Reverse
Curve" that was frequently defaced to read "Reverse the Curse"; after
the Boston Red Sox' win in the 2004 World Series, this sign was
removed during a ceremony presided over by governor Mitt Romney and
replaced with modern graphical road signage. It was slated to be sold
at auction, with the proceeds going to the Jimmy Fund.
On Tuesday, May 1, 2007, a fire broke out under the bridge. The fire burned through the roof of the bridge and caused the bridge to be shut down to vehicle and train traffic. This fire also severed Internet2 connectivity to Boston, causing problems with the Chicago-New York OC-192 route, according to the Internet2 blog. | The Longfellow Bridge, like many bridges in the Commonwealth, is in serious disrepair. "Since 1907, the only major maintenance conducted on the bridge has been a small 1959 rehabilitiation project and lesser repairs done in 2002." Engineers estimate rehabilitation could cost more than $200 million. Final costs will not be known until workers uncover the bridge and evaluate its pilings. If the maintenance was performed regularly, the total historical cost would have instead been about $81 million. |
The Long Island Bridge
Long Island is situated in the middle of Boston Harbor,
Massachusetts. The island is part of the City of Boston, and of the
Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area. Access to the island
is via a road over a 4,175-foot causeway from the Squantum peninsula
of North Quincy to Moon Island, and from there, over a 3,050-foof
two-lane steel bridge from Moon Island to Long Island. The bridge is
officially called the Long Island Viaduct. The island is 1.75 miles
long and covers 225 acres.
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North Beacon Street Bridge
The North Beacon Street Bridge is a bridge carrying North Beacon Street (U.S. Route 20) over the Charles River between Watertown, MA and Brighton, Boston, MA. It was built in 1917.
The southern end of the bridge is also at the western terminus of Soldiers Field Road, an extension of Storrow Drive, while its northern end is at the western terminus of Greenough Boulevard, an extension of Memorial Drive.
The North Beacon Street carried by this bridge is not the same street as the well-known Beacon Street in Boston.
Paul's Bridge
Paul's Bridge is a historic bridge on the Neponset Valley Parkway, over the Neponset River.
The bridge was built in 1849, replacing wooden bridges that had been on the site since the early 18th century. It had a major rebuilding in 1932, when it was widened. Most of the original stone was reused.
The Neponset Valley Parkway is itself a Historic District. Since the river is the border at that point, the bridge has one side in Milton and the other in the Boston. That's in the Hyde Park neighborhood, the southernmost neighborhood of Boston.
Paul's Bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972
River Street Bridge
1926, Robert P. Bellows, John R. Rablin, Charles River
Like most of the bridges on the Charles River, the River Street Bridge replaced an older, less efficient structure, a pile trestle bridge with a leaf draw in this case. The River Street Bridge was built in 1926 under the direction of chief engineer for the Metropolitan District Commission, John R. Rablin. Its three arches are constructed of reinforced concrete and span 330 feet. Neoclassical cutwaters are pointed on the upstream (western) elevation and rounded on the downstream (eastern), while the rounded parapet runs the length of the bridge. Its lampposts are original. Architect Robert P. Bellows' design is stylistically reminiscent of the Pont Neuf in Paris.
The Maurice J Tobin Memorial Bridge
Also known as the Mystic River Bridge, It was erected in 1948-49 and opened to traffic in 1950. It connects the Charlestown section of Boston with Chelsea. The bridge provides three travel lanes northbound on its lower level and three lanes southbound on the upper level. Tolls are collected from southbound cars only. The 36-foot-wide roadway is bounded on both sides by safety walks (2'7" wide) with steel-pipe railings on each side.
The main structure over the Mystic River is a three-span, cantilevered truss 1,525' in length. Its center span is 800' and the maximum truss height is 115'. It provides a navigable waterway opening 700' wide by 135' high. A smaller, simply supported warren truss spans the Little Mystic. It reaches a maximum truss height of 65' and is 439' long. Its navigable waterway opening measures 340' wide by 100' high.
The approaches comprise 36 spans on the north and 32 spans on the south. These spans are built-up plate girders of variable lengths (average length is 100'). On the twelve-span toll plaza—set between the Little and Big Mystic trusses—the roadway widens to 102 feet to accommodate seven collection lanes.
Including north and south approaches, the bridge is approximately 2 1/4 miles long.
Wellington Bridge A bridge over the Mystic River between Somerville and Medford, carrying Rt 28, the Fellsway, aka McGrath Highway.
Weeks Footbridge
1924, McKim, Mead and White, John R. Rablin, Charles River
The scale of the Weeks Bridge is smaller than that of the other eight Charles River bridges because, unlike its counterparts, the Weeks is a footbridge. It shares structural and historical associations with its fellow bridges, however. Designed by the architectural firm, McKim, Mead and White, the construction of this and other Charles bridges of the period was overseen by John R. Rablin, the chief architect of the Metropolitan District Commission. The structure of Weeks footbridge is typical, three arches of reinforced concrete, but its architectural embellishments are exceptional. Designed in the Georgian Revival style to compliment the surrounding architecture of Harvard University (especially the Business School, which was also designed by McKim, Mead and White), the bridge is faced with brick and limestone. The nosing, parapet, and decorative seals are limestone, the pylons are granite, and the brackets and lamps are bronze.
Western Avenue Bridge
1924, John R. Rablin, Charles River
The construction of the Western Avenue Bridge was supervised by John R. Rablin, chief engineer for the Metropolitan District Commission, in 1924. It is typical of the Charles River bridges in many ways. Like other bridges of the period, it is constructed of reinforced concrete. It also replaced an older bridge, one with a leaf-draw and pile trestle construction. Like its predecessor, the Western Avenue has a continuous roadway and sidewalks, and spans 328 feet. Its neoclassical elements, for example horizontally beveled concrete joints, bush hammered concrete belt course, ring stone, and parapet cap, tie this bridge stylistically to its neighbors on the river.
Woods Drawbridge
Woods Memorial Drawbridge crosses the Malden River and connects Medford with Everett, via Rt 16 and RevereBeach Parkway.
Lech Walesa Bridge
Morrissey boulevard over Mount Vernon Street. The existing bridge was constructed in 1984
