Bardwell's Ferry Bridge | |
---|---|
Coordinates | 42°33′20″N72°40′41″W / 42.55556°N 72.67806°W |
Carries | Bardwell's Ferry Road |
Crosses | Deerfield River |
Locale | Conway, Massachusetts |
Characteristics | |
Design | Truss bridge |
Total length | 198 ft (60 m) |
Width | 14 ft (4.3 m) |
History | |
Designer | Douglas, William O.; Berlin Iron Bridge Co. |
Construction end | 1880 |
Bardwell's Ferry Bridge | |
Nearest city | Conway, Massachusetts |
Built | 1882 |
Architect | William O. Douglas, Berlin Iron Bridge Co. |
NRHP reference No. | 00000076 [1] |
Added to NRHP | February 10, 2000 |
Location | |
The Bardwell's Ferry Bridge, built in 1882, is a historic lenticular truss bridge spanning the Deerfield River between the towns of Shelburne and Conway in Franklin County, Massachusetts. The bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is designated as a Massachusetts Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers. [2]
The Bardwell's Ferry Bridge carries Bardwell's Ferry Road across the Deerfield River. The bridge is situated within a deep valley, with sharply sloping roadways on each side.
Built by the Berlin Iron Bridge Co. of East Berlin, Connecticut, the bridge is 198 feet (60 m) long, consisting of 13 panels. It is the longest single span lenticular bridge in Massachusetts. [3]
The end posts and upper chords are built-up open box members, consisting riveted plates and angles giving dimensions of 18 by 12 inches (46 cm × 30 cm). The lower chords are constructed from 1-by-3-inch (3 cm × 8 cm) eye bars. The bridge deck is 14 feet (4.3 m) wide and is constructed of wooden planks.
During the latter part of the 19th century, the Berlin Iron Bridge Co. manufactured and erected almost 800 lenticular truss bridges in the United States (Darnell 1979). While most of these bridges were built in New England, a few were constructed in Ohio and Texas. These bridges are sometimes referred to as "pumpkin-seed bridges", "cats-eyes bridges", "elliptical truss bridges", or "parabolic truss bridges" because of their unique lens shape. Lenticular bridges were only used for vehicular traffic and were generally considered too light to be used for railroad and trolley loads. [2]
On August 24, 2023 the bridge was closed by Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) because it was structurally deficient and unsafe to travel on. No date for reopening was given by MassDOT. [4]
The Bardwell's Ferry Bridge was restored in the 1990s, and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. [1]
Conway is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,761 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.
A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements, typically straight, may be stressed from tension, compression, or sometimes both in response to dynamic loads. There are several types of truss bridges, including some with simple designs that were among the first bridges designed in the 19th and early 20th centuries. A truss bridge is economical to construct primarily because it uses materials efficiently.
Deerfield River is a river that runs for 76 miles (122 km) from southern Vermont through northwestern Massachusetts to the Connecticut River. The Deerfield River was historically influential in the settlement of western Franklin County, Massachusetts, and its namesake town. It is the Connecticut River's second-longest tributary in Massachusetts, 2.1 miles (3.4 km) shorter than Metropolitan Springfield's Westfield River.
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The Ashland Mill Bridge was a lenticular pony truss bridge over the Pachaug River in Griswold, Connecticut that was built in 1886 by the Berlin Iron Bridge Company. It was built following the Ashland dam break of February 1886 which washed away the previous bridges. The bridge served the millyard of the Ashland Cotton Company, in the Jewett City section of Griswold. The bridge was 65 feet (20 m) long and crossed a millrace on a skew angle. The Ashland Mill was damaged by arson in March 1995 and subsequently torn down, but the bridge itself remained. By 1999, the town deemed the bridge unsafe and closed it, and by February 1999, the bridge was moved to a vacant parking lot and was replaced with a new bridge. The bridge was added to the state of Connecticut historic register and it was later added to the National Register of Historic Places in April 1999. It was removed from the National Register in February 2016.
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The Berlin Iron Bridge Company was a Berlin, Connecticut company that built iron bridges and buildings that were supported by iron. It is credited as the architect of numerous bridges and buildings now listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. It eventually became part of the American Bridge Company.
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