Charles River Dam Bridge
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| Carries | six lanes of traffic (Route 28), two sidewalks |
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| Crosses | Charles River at mile 1.0 |
| Locale | Boston, Massachusetts |
| Maintained by | Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation |
| ID number | 160134 |
| Design | steel bascule bridge |
| Longest span | 19.2 m (63.0 ft) |
| Total length | 25.0 m (82.0 ft) |
| Width | 25.6 m (84.0 ft) |
| Vertical clearance | N/A |
| Clearance below | 4.6 m (15 ft) |
| Opening date | 1910 |
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The Charles River Dam Bridge, also called Craigie's Bridge or the Canal Bridge, is a six-lane bascule 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.
[edit] History
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.
