The Longfellow Bridge is a bridge over the Charles River connecting the central part of Boston (the capital of the US state of Massachusetts ) with Cambridge . A highway passes through it 
Massachusetts State (four lanes, two on each side), as well as two railway lines that run trains on the Red Line of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority ( MVTA, Red Line ).
| Longfellow Bridge | |
|---|---|
 Longfellow Bridge, Boston - Cambridge | |
| Official name | Longfellow bridge |
| Application area | automobile, railway, pedestrian |
| Crosses | Charles |
| Location | Boston , Massachusetts , USA |
| Design | |
| Type of construction | arch bridge |
| total length | 539 m |
| Bridge width | 32 m |
| Lanes | four |
| Exploitation | |
| Start of construction | 1900 |
| Opening | 1906 |
The unofficial name of this bridge is associated with the specific shape of the towers located at the central part of the bridge - “salt and pepper” ( English Salt-and-Pepper Bridge ) or “salt and pepper shaker” ( English Salt-and-Pepper-Shaker Bridge ) [ 1] [2] .
Content
- 1 History
- 2 Design
- 3 See also
- 4 notes
History
Since 1793, the West Boston Bridge ( English The West Boston Bridge ) across the Charles River, connecting Boston and Cambridge. In 1898, a commission was created, the purpose of which was to prepare the creation of a new Cambridge bridge. Although the rules required the construction of a drawbridge , the commission was able to obtain permission to build a non- movable bridge. Construction began in July 1900, the bridge was opened on August 3, 1906, and the official ceremony took place on July 31, 1907 [3] .
At first this bridge was called the Cambridge Bridge , and in 1927 it was renamed the Longfellow Bridge, in honor of the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow , who wrote the poem The Bridge [4] dedicated to the predecessor of this bridge - West Boston Bridge.
The bridge was expanded in 1956 and renovated in 1959. The general reconstruction of the Longfellow Bridge began in 2010, and its first phase was completed in January 2012 [5] . From 2013 to 2016, the second, main phase of the general reconstruction of the Longfellow Bridge is planned [6] .
Design
Longfellow Bridge - arch type. It contains 11 steel arch spans, which are supported by 10 stone supports, as well as two abutments along the edges of the bridge. The length of the arch spans varies from 57.5 m at the middle of the bridge to 30.9 m for the most extreme arches. Height from the surface of the water (“clearance”) - from 8.1 m at the middle of the bridge to 2.6 m for the most extreme supports [7] .
The highest bridge span - the central one - is surrounded by four turrets mounted on the protruding edges of the central supports (each of which is 57.3 m long and 16.3 m wide). The edges of the central supports under the turrets are decorated with carved granite figures. Inside the central turrets there are stairs [7] . It is for the shape of these towers that the Longfellow Bridge received the unofficial name "salt shaker and pepper shaker" [1] [2] .
See also
- Charles (river)
- Harvard bridge
- List of Charles River Bridges
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 William J. Angelo. Salt and Pepper Bridge Slated For Major Rehab in Boston (English) (HTML). enr.construction.com (June 6, 2007). Date of treatment March 4, 2013. Archived March 24, 2013.
- ↑ 1 2 Peter J. Howe. Heavy vehicles banned from bridge's left lanes (English) (HTML). www.boston.com (January 19, 2008). Date of treatment March 4, 2013.
- ↑ William Jackson. Report of the Cambridge bridge commission and report of the chief engineer upon the construction of Cambridge bridge . Printing Department, Boston (1909). Date of treatment March 4, 2013. Archived March 24, 2013.
- ↑ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The Bridge ( HTML) (link not available) . www.readbookonline.net. Date of treatment March 4, 2013. Archived March 24, 2013.
- ↑ Accelerated Bridge Program - Longfellow Bridge (English) (HTML). Massachusetts Department of Transportation - www.massdot.state.ma.us. Date of treatment March 10, 2013. Archived March 24, 2013.
- ↑ Martine Powers. Longfellow Bridge repairs, disruption to start in summer (English) (HTML). www.boston.com (February 28, 2013). Date of treatment March 4, 2013.
- ↑ 1 2 Supporting the Bridge - Longfellow Bridge (English) (HTML) (link not available) . www.kennedycatalogs.com. Date of treatment March 10, 2013. Archived March 24, 2013.