Norwottuck Rail Trail Bridge | |
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Coordinates | 42°20′14″N72°37′07″W / 42.33722°N 72.61861°W Coordinates: 42°20′14″N72°37′07″W / 42.33722°N 72.61861°W |
Carries | Norwottuck Rail Trail |
Crosses | Connecticut River |
Locale | Northampton, Massachusetts to Hadley, Massachusetts |
Maintained by | MassDOT |
Characteristics | |
Design | steel lattice truss bridge [1] |
Total length | approximately 1,492 feet (454.76 m) |
Longest span | approximately 200 feet (61 m) |
History | |
Opened | 1887, 1992 |
Location | |
The Norwottuck Rail Trail Bridge (also known as the Northampton Lattice Truss Bridge) is a former crossing of Boston and Maine Railroad over the Connecticut River in western Massachusetts, connecting the towns of Northampton and Hadley, by the Norwottuck Rail Trail, which is currently used for bicycle and foot traffic.
The Norwottuck Rail Trail Bridge is an eight-span steel lattice truss bridge. It crosses Elwell Island in the middle of the river, providing no access to the island in an attempt to keep the island otherwise untouched. Riding over the bridge shows eight spans, with two of them over Elwell Island. It was built by the R. F. Hawkins Ironworks Company. [2]
To survive the 1936 flood, railroad cars loaded with scrap metal were placed on the bridge to weigh it down. [3]
The bridge was redesigned by Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc. of Watertown, rebuilt by MassHighway, and opened in 1992 to bicycle and foot traffic as part of the Norwottuck Rail Trail.
The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of Northampton was 29,571.
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The Bellows Falls Arch Bridge was a three-hinged steel through arch bridge over the Connecticut River between Bellows Falls, Vermont and North Walpole, New Hampshire. It was structurally significant as the longest arch bridge in the United States when it was completed in 1905.
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Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc. or VHB is a multidisciplinary American civil engineering consulting and design firm headquartered in Watertown, Massachusetts with offices throughout the country. The company was founded in 1979 by Bob Vanasse (1979-1990), Rich Hangen, Robert S. Brustlin, William J. Roache (1979 - retirement, John Kennedy and James D'Angelo. The company primarily focuses on transportation and land development. VHB was a finalist in the US DOT Safety Visualization Challenge. VHB works on a variety of transportation civil engineering projects in the Northeast and along the east coast.